Blood Trails
by IWriteBecauseICantSleep
Summary: This Skyrim tale is a story about a lonely Dunmer who has given up most of her hope after losing her parents and brother to a Nord Stormcloak. The Dunmer, Danya, had about given up all hope in Skyrim when a young Altmer came to her door looking for training in magic. The two Mer end up going on a journey to kill the Nord that murdered Danya's family but troubles obstruct their path
1. A Cold Unwelcoming

**Chapter 1**

**A Cold Unwelcoming**

**4E 194, Skyrim. 3rd of Frostfall**

The sky was clear, not a cloud in sight. A few auroras could be seen emanating a soft green glow onto snowy mountains in the Eastmarch hold of Skyrim. A gentle breeze wisped against the branches of the pines. Wolves' howls echoed through the forest giving it an eerie feel, yet the smell of pine welcomed any who entered.

A small house sat in the Eastmarch hold next to the Darkwater river. The house looked as if it could be in the Whiterun hold with its quaint cottage appeal and signature yellow rooftop shingles. Thick pines shaded the house from Masser and Secunda's light. Healthy nirnroots grew to the east of the house by the river. Deathbells and other flowers grew on the opposite side in a garden. The house was lit brightly inside and smoke rose from the chimney fading off into the stars. The only other generous amount of light came from the nirnroots growing.

Inside the cottage was just as quaint as the outside. It was a single room home, walking into the home were two chairs placed in front of a fire pit. Bookshelves filled with potions sat up against the walls. In the back sat an Arcane Enchanter, an Alchemy Lab, and a small bed. Tables were scattered around the home filled with an assortment of alchemy ingredients.

A lone Dunmer sat in a chair by the fire. The fire's light illuminated her dark aged skin. The flickering light gleamed in her deep red eyes. The Dunmer charged a lighting spell in her hand. The glow highlighted her traditional Dunmer war paint coming form the wrinkles of her eyes down the side of her face. Her lips were wrinkled and pale. Small scars from old battles were scattered around her face. She wore blue mages robes with a special enchantment on them.

There was a knock at the door. The Dunmer sharply turned her head and released the spell. There was another knock. She got up and cautiously made her way to the door.

A tall young Altmer stood at the other side. His eyes were wide and he was breathing deeply. His short blonde hair blew in the wind and his hands were shaking from the cold. His yellow skin looked untouched, as if he had never seen a battle. He wore faded novice robes that weren't fitted well. The Altmer stumbled with his words unable to get anything out.

"This isn't an inn, leave!" The Dunmer said harshly slamming the door.

"Danya!" The Altmer shouted just before the door shut.

The Dunmer creaked the door back open, "How do you know my name? Who are you?"

"I - I'm Arcatius. I'm looking to become a uh skilled mage and I heard about you." The boy stuttered.

"Yes, yes... Come in. Take a seat." Danya offered.

She walked in and sat down by the fire. Arcatius stood in the doorway in awe. He walked over to a table with a luna moth trapped in a jar surrounded by potions of all types and nirnroots.

"Don't touch any thing! Would ya close the door? You'll let skeevers in," Danya fussed.

The boy closed the door and sat down in the chair beside her. Several moments of silence past before someone spoke.

"Why not The College of Winterhold?" Danya addressed in a serious tone.

"The College wasn't... It's never appealed to me. " Acatius said with a worried look.

"Smart. Where are you from, boy?"

"Valenwood," He paused, his voice was shaky, "My family raised me there, but I left when I was 17. Fled there to come to Skyrim. A years worth of journey later and here I am."

"How was the trip over here, was Cyrodil nice to you?"

"Nice isn't the word." He kept the same blank expressionless stare and shaky voice.

Danya could tell he was timid and something was missing. "How good are you with magic?"

"Uh I- uh..." He stuttered looking around nervously.

"If you're not gonna tell me then show me," A smirk grew across her face. "Cast a spell."

"O-oh okay." Arcatius held up his hand looking at his palm. He charged a purple spell in his hand and his eyes grew wide. He opened his hand and an flame atronach appeared in the room. "T-that was supposed to be a healing spell!" He shouted as the flame atronach floated around the room.

Danya stood up and cast a ice spell killing the atronach bursting it in to flames sending positions and ingredients flying. "No more spells."

Arcatius jumped up and ran over to pick up the mess, and Danya followed him. Arcatius overwhelmed himself with ingredients, potions, and spelltomes that has scattered across the floor.

"Just throw them on the table, I will organize them later," Danya hissed.

Arcatius sat the items on the table closest to him. He walked over to the back picking up potions and ingredients putting them on tables as he grabbed them. He reached under a table against a wall reaching for anything that might of flown under it. His hand hit something warm and soft , some kind of fabric. He grabbed the cloth and pulled it out from under the table.

He turned around to see if Danya was looking then turned back to examine the fabric. It was a worn out set of robes in much need of attention. They were faded brown and red with a large dragon stitched onto the back. The robes had enchantments of all sorts on them. The hood had a large gash in the side from a blade, and the pants were worn at the feet and several more slashes could be found in them.

Arcatius slowly stood up holding the robes. Danya turned around seeing what he was holding, she hurried over snatching it from him.

"Where did you find these?" She shouted.

"I- I was, th- they..." Arcatius grew worried. "They were under the table!"

Danya threw the robes onto her bed, "Go, sit in the chair by the fire."

Arcatius walked over to the chair and sat down resting his elbows on his knees.

Danya grabbed some spelltome books a threw them into his lap. "Read those to completion."

Arcatius sat the books on the table beside him and grabbed one. He slowly flipped through the pages, "Half of this is in Daedra, I don't know Daedric."

Danya walked over to a bookcase searching. She grabbed a book and shoved it into Arcatius' hands. "Use this."

The Daedric letter 'oht' was on the cover. "A translator, oh good good." Arcatius mumbled to himself.

Irritated, Danya said, "I'm going to get some rest now, in the morning I will get you started on your training."


	2. Everyone Has Their Own Story

**Chapter 2**

**Everyone Has Their Own Story **

**4E 194, Skyrim. 4th of Frostfall**

The next morning Arcatius woke up to an empty house. He looked around, he had read four out of the twelve books he was given, one about wards, one about chain lightning, one about flames, and the final one about ice spike.

Danya walked in carrying a basket of nirnroots and various types of mushrooms. "Look who finally woke up. What did you read last night?"

"I read about wards, chain lightning..." He pause and picked up the books on the floor reading the titles, "and um flames, and ice spikes." Arcatius rubbed his eyes and stood up stretching.

Danya tossed him a grilled leek, "Follow me out back," she said opening the door.

Arcatius followed her to the back where she had set up a dummy for him to practice with.

"Charge the flames spell into both hands," she said charging the spell into her own hands.

Arcatius sighed holding his hands up in front of him. He squinted his eyes shut and concentrated on the spell. Flames appeared in the palms of his hands, he opened his eyes to observe what he had done. A smile grew across his face and he let out a laugh of relief. Danya stood in the same spot a smiled nodding her head.

"Now cast it." She grinned.

Arcatius turned to the dummy still charging the spell in his hands. He cast the spell hitting the dummy with vibrant shades of red and orange. The dummy went up in flames, and smoke arose from it carrying its ashes.

"Very well," Danya said cooling the dummy off with a frost spell putting the flames to rest. "Now try your ice spike."

Arcatius grinned eager to continue the lesson. He held his hands in front of him. Shards of ice formed in his palms setting off a gentle blue glow. He aimed the ice spikes at the dummy and cast the spell.

**4E 194, Skyrim. 14th of Frostfall**

After just ten days at Danya's house Arcatius had become a very skilled Mage. He had learned over twenty spells and had mastered eight of them. His strongest area was destruction magic, where he favored chain lightning and flames.

"I'm impressed, Arcatius. I will be honest, I didn't expect much out of an Altmer." She smirked.

"I didn't think a Dunmer could've taught me this much, I'm impressed as well." Arcatius said stretching back in his chair.

"Watch your self now!" Danya snickered. She looked over at Arcatius staring him down head to toe. "Are those your robes?"

"Umm, well. Not-," he paused to clear his throat, "They are now."

"Hmm. I can tell..." Danya said raising her brows. "Come here." She said motioning him over. Danya pushed aside a chest revealing a cellar door. "You first," She said opening the door.

Arcatius made his way down the old wooden ladder to the bottom of a cellar underneath Danya's house.

He was surrounded by stone walls with torches lined up for light. Candle lit chandeliers hung from the ceilings in order to add more light to the tables below them. On the tables were weapons and staffs of all types. Mannequins were lined against the walls modeling all types of robes in perfect condition. In the back of the room were two large wardrobes.

"Let's find you some new well fitted robes!" Danya said coming down the ladder.

She waked over to the large wardrobes in the back. Inside there were robes of all colors and sizes stacked up neatly.

Arcatius slowly walked past the mannequins looking over everyone. He came across one in particular he found intriguing. The mannequin was wearing the same robes he had found under the table, only these robes looked brand new.

Danya still faced the other way looking through robes. "Arcatius?"

"Coming!" He said making his way over to her.

"Choose a color," she said stepping back from the robes.

"Not brown, don't want to be confused for a priest. White robes get dirty. Black is too original." He flipped through several stacks until he found something. He pulled out a set of Master Robes still in perfect condition. "These."

Danya walked over to the mannequin with the dragon robes that Arcatius was so intrigued with.

Arcatius noticed Danya by the robes. "Would you mind me asking about those robes?" His voice was shaky.

"Yes, I would," She paused looking back at Arcatius raising a brow smiling. "But I suppose I can tell you. When you get changed come up stairs and I will tell you."

Arcatius slipped into his new robes. They fit perfectly on him. He stayed in the cellar admiring his new robes until Danya fussed at him.

When he arrived back up stairs Danya had a block of mammoth cheese and cooked venison that he had killed himself on a plate for him.

"So you want to know the story behind those ominous robes?"

Arcatius cleared his throat and situated himself in his chair then nodded for her to continue.

"When I was a young little Dunmer, my family fled from Morrowind to Skyrim to live a better life. We were very poor and were living off of bread crumbs. My mother had a small alchemy shop, but no one needed potions or ingredients and no one had the money for aromatics. My parents were skillful mages and wanted to come to The College of Winterhold to possibly teach. My older brother was a skillful hunter and Skyrim's plains are flourishing with wild animals for him to hunt. He knew a good amount of magic as well. He could easily kill a small elk with an ice spike from 100 meters away, but it was nothing compared to his skill with the bow. And I was a young girl interested in magic. All in all it was a fine idea."

"Was the journey rough? Why aren't you at the college now?" Questions poured out of Arcatius.

"Listen. We crossed the border with ease, we set up a small camp hidden within the pines near the border and stayed there for quite some time. My brother hunted well. We ate better than we had in years those first days. We traveled at night so that we wouldn't run into suspicious guards, bears, or bandits. It wasn't long before we had come across Windhelm. My father lead us through the snow covered forest knowing we were in Stormcloak territory. We managed to sneak by several groups of soldiers and had made a good ways west of the city when we ran into three snow saber cats. We killed them easily, but we blew our cover." She started to lose focus and looked upset.

A puzzled look over came Arcatius, "H-how did you blow your cover?"

Danya regained focus. "Magic isn't quite, and the light it produces is quite a large sum of light," She paused and looked out the window then cleared her throat. "The saber cats conveniently ran us near a Stormcloak camp. Four soldiers approached my mother and father. Thank Azura it was night, my brother and I stayed unseen in some bushes close enough to hear their conversation."

"What was your brothers name?"

Danya smiled, "Lenius." She repositioned her self in her chair and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. "Lenius kept me calm and unaware of what was going on. He whispered calming things to me, reminding me about the hunts we had been on and the fun times at mother's shop. He told me the story of when I was born, I can still hear his calm voice today. In the middle of one of his tales he froze, he had been eavesdropping the whole time. He grew attentive and curiosity overtook him, he whispered to be quiet."

She sat in silence for a few moments. "He mumbled a name under his breath, Ciara the Nimble. She was the one leading the conversation with my parents. Then, I watched it all go down. In a split second, Ciara pulled out her blade and pierced it through my fathers chest. His lifeless body fell to the ground, and the snow soon turned a deep red around Ciara and my now dead father. My mother shrieked and collapsed next to his body. The Nord raised her brow at my mother weeping over my father's body and smirked walking away ordering the others to kill her. Lenius sniped one of them before they could touch her, the arrow hit him square between the shoulder blades. Tears rolled from his eyes. This was new to me. In all my nine years of life I had never seen my brother cry. He swung me into his arms running away from the scene. That might of kept me form seeing the fate my mother meet but it didn't keep her shrills of pain from being heard." Tears swelled up in the Dunmer's eyes as she tried to hold back from whaling.

Arcatius shifted uncomfortably. He felt as if it was a bad idea asking about the robes and he brought these painful memories back to her.

"Lenius and I continued my parents journey to Winterhold for them, after Lenius grabbed some stuff off my parents and dragged their bodies to a more peaceful place. I gathered some nightshades and death bells and laid them around my parents, then we made the long journey. Lenius didn't cry again, at least in front of me, and that's what kept me sane. After what felt like years of walking, hiding, and long nights of no sleep, we made it to the college. Lenius had made it his goal to become the best Mage he could be in our parents honor. When we arrived at The College we explained our story and how we'd like to attend the school. That bloody Altmer just laughed." She cursed then caught her self from making another harsh comment about Altmers remembering Arcatius himself was an Altmer. "Oh- um..."

Arcatius shook his head, "It's fine, go on."

"They made it clear we weren't welcome there so we left and headed south. We ended up in Morthal, my brother made decent coin working at the mill there and hunting being he was only 16. After Lenius turned 23 he took all the gold we had and left taking us to, well here. He built this house. I was still a young Dunmer at the time, only 16. We lived off of what he hunted. One day he came in talking about a lovely Bosmer he had meet and her hunting group. He started to hunt with them, bringing home well enough food each day. After a while I noticed him coming home irritated, finally he told me about how the other men in the group didn't approve of him and claimed he was stealing all the food. So he left the group but the Bosmer, Ansley, came with him, they were in love. A love stronger than that of my mother and father."

"Did you like Ansley?"

"Gods no. Then again I didn't like anyone at the time, with the exception of my brother. But Lenius loved her, so I guess that's all that matters. One day the two of them went out hunting. Like always they threw their bows over their back, grabbed their arrows, and walked out hand in hand. They usually came in before sundown so I was getting anxious when it started getting late and they hadn't come in sight yet. I kinda blew it off to be they were, umm, making use of the privacy and one of the many the abandoned tents left in the forest. I kept telling my self that, but my anxiety pounded deeper and deeper into my mind. So I went searching for them. After about an hour of calling Lenius's and Ansley's name, I came across a clearing with a dying fire and one tent. I walked closer examining the scene and found four pale, cold, and blood covered bodies lying on the ground. Two of them being Lenius and Ansley, the other two being Stormcloak soldiers."

Danya had kept from not crying until now, the Dunmer's voice grew shaky and she paused the story. Using the sleeve of her robes she wiped her eyes.

"He had become a fatherly figure in my life, and now he was gone. Around the camp were empty wine bottles and their supplies and kill laying by the tent. I was right about them making use of the abandon camp sites, but I didn't know they weren't coming back. I looted the Stormcloak's bodies and found a note saying that Ansley had publicly spoken against the rebellion and needed to be captured at once. She had somehow found out a little too much information and didn't keep it to herself. The orders were from Ciara. That damned Nord. I buried them out back behind our house, surrounded the graves with nightshades and death bells as well." She paused wiping more tears from her eyes.

Arcatius offered for her to finish up the story later when she was ready to continue, and she gladly accepted.


	3. The Once Legioner

**Chapter 3**

**The Once Legioner **

**4E 194, Skyrim 14th of Frostfall**

The day had grown dark. Danya had gone outside to recover from the vivid memories she had just shared. She stayed by her brother's grave most the day, when she wasn't by his grave she was out searching for more flowers to place on the two identical graves lying beneath the tallest pine in the area.

The Dunmer had propped herself up against the trunk of the great pine and was playing around with a large death bell flower in her hands. The flower's vibrant shades of lilac and deep violet glowed in the light from Secunda and Masser.

"I wish you were still here," she said with a tear in her eye to her deceased brother. "Things would be different with you here. They'd be nicer, happier, more peaceful. I even sorta miss Ansley." Tears rolled down her face following the lines of her wrinkles.

Inside the home, Arcatius sat in a chair by the fresh fire. He rested his elbows upon the table that sat before him. The Altmer studied a book, flipping back and forth between pages, aggression burned in his orange eyes. He cursed under his breath slamming the book shut, the cover revealed the book was old and had seen its fair share of places. The pages were old and worn, and covered in dirt. Drops of blood stained the cover and water had damaged the pages inside. Arcatius collapsed on top of the book letting out an exhausted sigh. His eyes squinted shut and his arms went limp and weak. He stood up from his chair and paced back and forth. His hand covered his mouth while he mumbled to himself. Walking over to the table, he picked up the blood stained worn book slipping it into a pocket on the inside of his robes. He fell back into the chair resting one arm on the other rubbing his eyebrows.

Danya walked into the small dusky house still holding the death bell in her hands. The Dunmer slowly sat in the chair across from Arcatius. She noticed the upset look on his face but didn't say anything. She focused on the Altmer's face taking in each and every detail.

"After Lenius died I was a mess." She sighed.

Arcatius looked up at Danya not expecting her to continue her story. He dropped his arms down relaxing them, forgetting about his unknown troubles.

"I couldn't stay out here in the woods any longer. Too many risks staying out here. So after a couple of months I locked the door and left, I carried only what I needed. I had no real ideas where to go, I just walked. I couldn't go to The College of Winterhold. No. Not after what they did to us. The first place I found my self in was Falkreath. I rented a room at Dead Man's Drink and stayed over night. While I was there I shared some stories with a fellow Mer over some Alto Wine. He told me that I should join the Legion and fight in the war against the rebels, and that I did. I made my way to Solitude and joined, being one of the first mages."

Arcatius ran his fingers through his rough hair, "So those are the Imperial Legion's robes?"

Danya slowly nodded her head.

"So you fought against the rebels..."

" Yes, now I'm going to assume you want to hear what happened. You saw the robes, blood stained, worn, old."

She waited until Arcatius nodded his head as she had expected. "When I joined General Tullius had mixed thoughts about me. He let me in but was extremely cautious about it. I started going to battles within weeks of me joining. The battles were rough and since I was the only one with any practice in restoration magic I spent a lot of time healing our wounded men and women. My ice spikes weren't worth much against a Nord so I resorted to using fire bolt, a slow and painful death for them. My fathers friend gave him that dagger," she pointed at a Daedric dagger mounted on a plaque hanging above the door. "Lenius used it for skinning his kill, then I used it for hand on hand combat in the war. I became highly skilled with the hand on hand combat." She said smirking. "I quickly became ranked as Tribune, impressing General Tullius. Over the years, Tullius and I became close after sharing our stories over wine and ale. He knew about my family, Lenius, Ciara. Our spies had informed us that Ciara would be attending one of our battles and Tullius insisted I go and lead this battle, but I had a better idea. I'm pretty good when it comes to sneaking, had a lot of practice back in Morrowind, so I decided that it would be best if I came from the back and stealthily killed her. Tullius agreed and we had a plan. He told me in private if I completed this successfully then he would rank me as Legate." Her Happy smirk that she had carried through the story now turned into a remorseful frown.

Every word she spoke was like poison and the memory burned in her mind as she told her story.

* * *

Danya sat upon a gray stallion leading about 20 men and women in the Legion's armor.

The Dunmer looked focused as she lead the army of mumbling men and women. Her face looked young and her war paint was freshly repainted. Her long black hair came down past her shoulders and flowed in the wind. Danya's new robes were brown with red detailings and a large gold diamond dragon stitched onto the back. The robes resembled those of the Dark Brotherhood's.

They arrived at the Stormcloak camp in Falkreath in the middle of the thick pine forest. The camp was surrounded in shrubs and pines and shadows.

"Perfect." Danya smirked pulling her hood over her head. Her face was hidden in the shadow of the hood, all that was left to see was the tip of her nose and her mouth.

The Dunmer disappeared into the bushes around the camp in search of Ciara and the soldiers scattered into the camp attacking Stormcloaks.

Within minutes, Danya located the Nord. The tall blonde was standing inside a tent leaned over a table watching her soldiers fight. Her white skin was clean and flawless showing her youth. She had dull blue stripe running across her eyes but that was her only war paint.

Danya cursed knowing she'd have to find a way to get the Nord out of her sanctuary. A sharp scream from a new recruit caught her attention. The young male was being attacked by three soldiers who obviously had more experience than him. Danya ran through the shrubs and shadows making her way towards the boy. She grabbed a soldier from behind a bush covering one hand over his mouth and the other over his eyes. She pushed her hands together snapping the soldier's neck. The two soldiers watched their friend's body drop to the ground dead giving the recruit just enough time to swing his battle axe into one of the soldier's stomachs and kick the other one to the ground then pierce him with the giant axe.

Danya drug the body of the soldier to the side of the tent where Ciara hid. She lied the body down then took cover behind the tent charging a purple Raise Zombie spell in her hands. The Dunmer cast the spell on the dead dead body, the lifeless body rose into the air surrounded by the purple ribbons of her spell. The zombie grabbed his steel mace and slowly made his way over to the battle.

Ciara addressed the soldier, "What are you doing? Get back to fighting!" She hissed coming out of her tent.

The soldier clumsily swung his mace hitting Ciara's lower forearm, the swing made her stumble losing her balance. She moaned and grabbed her blood covered arm. The Nord looked up noticing the purple glow the soldier was putting off. He swung his mace again but Ciara caught it by the handle. Her blade impaled the zombie's chest turning him into nothing but lilac ashes. It was the same sword that pierced Danya's father's chest.

Anger boiled in the Dunmer's blood, she could feel the heat radiating from her cheeks. Her teeth gritted against each other and fire burned in her red eyes. Danya charged Fire Bolt spell in one palm and a Sparks spell in the other. The two spells put off a generous amount of light, emanating rays of orange and purple. The sound of fire crackling and highly recognizable sound of sparks sat in the palms if her hands.

The Nord sharply turned searching for the source of the noise. The Dunmer stayed behind the tent before taking a deep breath and casting the Sparks on the Nord.

Ciara staggered backwards keeping her balance. Danya took the opportunity to cast the Fire Bolt but Ciara dodged it with ease. She charged towards Danya swinging her sword down Danya's face, ripping her skin open from her cheek, down her lips to the bottom of her chin. The Nord used her wounded arm to pin Danya up against the tree, her breathing was restricted from the pressure Ciara forced against her throat.

Ciara ran the flat side of her cold glass dagger down the side of Danya's face. "I think your bleeding," she wiped the blood of her enemy on the dagger smiling.

Danya was finally able to unsheathe her dagger and stab the girl's leg. The Nord let out a cringing shriek and managed to slice Danya's thigh open sending blood flying.

Ciara grabbed Danya by her robes, "To Oblivion with you, Dunmer!" She grunted before shoving Danya backwards.

Some archers over heard the commotion and stepped in to help shooting arrows at her as she stumbled backwards. Danya was struck by two arrows, one in her shoulder and one in her side.

She struggled to catch herself but the arrows worsened things. Ciara had pushed her backwards stumbling towards a cliff. Danya didn't realize there was a rocky cliff behind the shrubs until it was too late and she fell to her death.

Danya opened her weak eyes, she was staring into the deep red eyes of Seras, a healer she had become close to over time. She was lying in the lap of this man. The male Dunmer was only a couple years older than her. His skin was a dark gray and clean except for the dark stubble he had growing along his chin and mouth. His long black hair was covered by his hood he had on.

"S-Seras?" Danya stuttered.

"You gave me quite the scare there, love." His voice was wise, deep, and raspy.

He stroked the side of Danya's while telling her about the nasty injuries he had healed for her and how she had been knocked out for days in the inn he carried her to.

Danya sat up in bed beside him. She placed her small hand on his face, "Thank you." She leaned into Seras pressing her lips against his.

* * *

"We rested there until I completely healed, then, I had to go tell Tullius about my failed mission. He didn't handle it well. I only fought three more battles, most the time I was healing the wounded soldiers with my friend, then I left the Legion. I came back here and have been here in the woods since. Four years of nothing."

"Danya- I- I had no idea you had gone through all of this. I'm sorry."

Arcatius's concerned and sympathetic look gave the Dunmer chills. "Thank you, I needed to get that off my chest. How's a bout we get some rest now?"

The Dunmer crawled into bed burying herself in the warm snow bear pelt. Arcatius put out the fire then slid into his bed roll in the corner of the dark room. He tossed and turned for what seemed like hours, still feeling uncomfortable with Danya's story. Then it hit him, he had a plan.


	4. Where It All Started

**Chapter 4**

**Where It All Started**

**4E 194, Skyrim 15th of Frostfall**

Danya woke up early the next morning. She sat on the edge of some rocks next to a extravagant waterfall. Despite the freezing temperatures the waterfall still gushed water over the cliff's edge. The sun rose over the horizon sending rays of yellow, red, and orange fading the dark blue night sky and it's green auroras. The stars that spotted the sky slowly disappeared as well.

The Dunmer closed her eyes and took a deep breath in. The sounds of running water and wind brushing the trees calmed her and eased her mind. The sun had well risen when she heard the soft sound of crunching snow behind her. It was Arcatius, he had a long gray fur cloak draped over himself and a second one in his hands. He gently put the cloak over Danya's shoulders. The white fur brushed up against her long dark black hair.

"Thank you." She said calmly.

This was the first time Arcatius had really seen her hair down, she usually wore her hood over her head giving her that grim ominous look. Her hair came to her shoulders and was a faded looking black. Despite the rough texture, her hair seem well kept. She had a small braid on the left side of her head framing her well defined face.

Arcatius slowly sat down next to her, careful not to slip on the icy rock and fall. He wrapped the cloak around him thinking of ways to purpose his idea. He was drowning in thoughts, so much so that he missed what Danya had said.

"Arcatius?" Danya turned positioning her body to face him. Her eyebrows turned upwards and her lips frowned.

"Oh, um sorry I- I missed what you said." He stumbled with his words.

"I asked about your family. Why'd you leave?" Her expression stayed the same. Curious, worried, and sympathetic. There was something about this that irked Arcatius but he answered her anyway.

"My parents are Thalmor. They hate anyone who isn't Mer. Actually, they can't stand most Mer either. They-," he squinted his eyes looking over the horizon. He hated this topic more than any, but it got his mind off of the plan. "They are the reason for the death of only girl I have really... Loved"

Danya placed her hand on top if his. "I know how hard that is. I'm sorry."

Arcatius took a deep breath, "She was a beautiful Bosmer, she went by Lia, short for Meraviglia. She had beautiful brown silky hair that came down below her shoulder blades. Her skin was a flawless light brown. Her eyes, oh her eyes were a radiant brown, they were always sparkling. She had he softest voice and lips." He laughed and put his hands in his lap smiling looking down at a small flower he held. "She was a great hunter, and thief. She supplied most of our town's meat. Our families were great friends with one another, but hated the thought of us being together. When we were 17 we had agreed to run off together and live on our own. We had the plans together and were ready to go. On the night we decided to leave, she had managed to steal about 600 coins from the wealthiest citizen of our town. We made it miles out of our town and set up a small camp. We celebrated our successful escape from that dreaded place and might of drank a little too much wine..."

He paused his story and smirked chuckling to himself. "We woke up to the sound of clanky elven armor. Several men, my own father being one of them, surrounded our tent with their swords drawn and magic in their hands. They ordered us out of the bed roll and grabbed her, they took Lia. She screamed, a terrifying scream, something I never wanted to hear. I grabbed my daggers and chased after the men carrying her away but I was stopped buy two soldiers grabbing my own arms. My father walked in front of me saying 'Don't try chasing after her, it's no use. We will kill you too if we have to.' It was then when I stabbed the soldiers holding me in the abdomen letting them bleed to death and threw my father to the ground. I wasn't going to let them hurt Lia. As I got closer I could hear her pleas and cries for help. Anger built up inside me more and more every time I heard her calling my name. I jumped on one of the soldiers carrying her away and dug my dagger into his neck, killing him instantly. My dad ran up behind me snatching the daggers from my hands. He grabbed my arms and bent my knees shoving me to the ground then turned me towards Lia and the soldier restraining her. I tried to break lose from his grasp but nothing worked. He nodded to the soldier and said 'Go on, just do it now.' The soldier grabbed his sword letting lose of one hand. Lia took the opportunity to break free and snapped the soldier's neck, turning her back to my father and I. My father drew his blade and charged at her. Before I could do anything, his blade impaled the back of her stomach, she squealed and then fell to the ground. I screamed crawling over to her body... She grabbed my face, tears rolling from her eyes."

The memory flashed into his head.

* * *

"I love you," Lia whispered.

"No, no, no I can fix this, I can! I can save you and we can live together away from all of this." Arcatius touched her wound realizing the intensity and damage that could not be repaired. Tears filled his eyes and slowly ran down his face. He placed his hands on her small face smearing her blood across her cheeks. He leaned into her face, and their lips locked. For a brief second the pain and agony went away. There was no death coming for her, no more tears, no worries. Everything was back to the way it was before in a perfect little paridise of just Arcatius and Lia. Memories of joy and good times rushed into each others heads. Arcatius pulled away whispering, "I love you too."

Arcatius sat up and pulled Lia into his lap and she rested her head on his shoulder. He turned his head down towards Lia's resting their foreheads together. A tear rolled off of Arcatius's nose landing on Lia's lips. He brushed the hair out of her face tucking it behind her ear.

After a few short moments, Lia's eyes shut, and her breathing ceased. Arcatius ran his hand down her arm finding her own hand. He pulled a gold sapphire ring from his pocket and placed it on her ring finger. His fingers were trembling and he couldn't control the cries.

"You were the only person I've ever loved." He whispered, managing to say over his tears. Arcatius lied her body down and looked at the wound. Her skin was covered in blood from the wound his own father had made. He picked up her body and carried her to the camp they had made. The Altmer dressed her in a blue set of fine clothes then lied flowers over her body.

Leaving her body at the camp, Arcatius grabbed his elven daggers and threw the soldier's bodies into a lake near by. The bodies sank to the bottom of the lake but left the water around them a deep red.

Back at the camp, he dressed himself in a set of armor that exposed much of his chest. Typical clothing or robes would hide his many scars he had along his arms and chest and his abundance of muscle. His long golden hair blew with the wind as he threw a knapsack, a quiver of arrows, and a long bow over his back.

The young Altmer picked up the campsite by himself, a task meant to be done with Lia. In the distance, he could see two people running over to the camp. He dropped his things and hid behind a large tree nearby. It was Lia's parents. The couple collapsed over their daughter's body crying out her name. Her father stood up and clutched a steel dagger in his fist.

"Arcatius! I know you aren't far from here. You caused this. All of this. She is dead because of you!" His voiced echoed in Arcatius's mind. Tears swelled in his eyes, was it really his fault? The Altmer gasped for air revealing his location to Lia's father.

The Bosmer marched over to Arcatius pulling him by a leather strap on his armor. He drug him over to Lia's body and grabbed his face directing towards Lia's body.

"Look at her! She's dead because of you." The father yelled at be boy now.

Arcatius's knees grew weak and he collapsed to the ground. Tears ran down his face and he was unable to control the cries again. The Bosmer punched Arcatius in the left cheek, his body was weak and limp causing him to fall over.

Lia's mother jumped up and placed her hands upon the angry Bosmer's chest. "Stop. He is hurt too. Look at him." Her voice was calm. The man sheathed his steel dagger and gave Arcatius one last glance. He picked up his daughters body cradling her in his arms. They carried her off back to their town with no goodbyes.

Lia's blood smeared across Acractius's hands and body. Tears ran down his defined cheeks and fell on to his hands. He looked down at his blood covered hands and squinted his eyes shut.

* * *

His eyes opened. A gray wrinkled hand rested on top of his hands. He was back in reality sitting next to Danya. He hadn't noticed that he was crying until he watched a tear fall on to her hand.

"I'm sorry." Her voice was somber but calming. Arcatius usually hated hearing apologies from people, but Danya was different. She had become an important person in his life over the past days.


	5. A Grim Plan

**Chapter 5 **

**A Grim Plan**

**4E 194, Skyrim 15th of Frostfall**

The two Mers briefly talked some more. Arcatius shared some stories about his journey over to Skyrim. He talked about the creatures and the rough battles he fought, though most of his journey was uneventful.

"Why magic? You seem so skilled with the daggers." It was Danya's somber voice again. The same voice that relaxed Arcatius and comforted him. The same voice that made him feel safe.

Arcatius gritted his teeth together. It was a question he had tried to avoid and there was no way around it now. He buried his face into his hands and then looked up at the horizon. "There is nothing I hate more than killing people. I can't stand the fear in their eyes when they know they have meet their fate and the last cry they exhale before their life ceases to continue. But most of all, I hate knowing I took someone's life. Knowing that someone cared about them, just like I cared about Lia."

"I understand," Danya said rubbing Arcatius's back.

**4E 194, Skyrim 16th of Frostfall**

Arcatius was unable to sleep, he just lied tossing and turning in his bed roll. All he could think about was Lia. _Was it really my fault?_ The question burned inside his head. When he had had enough of the tossing and turning, he got up snatching his knapsack.

Arcatius walked over to the fire pit setting his knapsack on the table between the two chairs. He charged a fire spell in the palm of his hand moving the charged spell down to a candle that sat on the table. The candle set off a generous amount of light lighting the room enough so that he could see what he was doing and Danya could stay asleep.

The Altmer reached into his knapsack pulling out the armor set from his memories, a set of hide armor. The leather was covered with slashes from battles he had fought. He held the armor up in the candle's light. Blood stained the fur covering the right thigh of the armor and a large slash had cut off any fur that had been below it.

Two hands came from behind the armor, stroking the furs along the thighs. Arcatius moved the armor revealing that the hands belonged to Danya. He set the armor on the table and sat down in the chair behind him.

"I didn't mean to startle you." Danya spoke up.

"I know you didn't." Arcatius said still shaking. He reached into the knapsack pulling out two elven daggers and the blood stained book he was looking at earlier. Arcatius sat the items on the table looking at them with grief. "I should of told her the plan wasn't safe, or at least taken her further into the woods. I just-"

Danya interrupted him, "It's not your fault. Don't blame yourself, it's hard I know,"

Arcatius ignored Danya and blocked her words from his mind. He reached behind his neck and messed around with something before pulling a amulet from under his shirt. He interupted Danya, "This is all I have left of her, and whats on the table is all I have left of Valenwood."

The amulet was unlike any Nordic amulet from Skyrim, it was unique. A long wooden pendant rested on a leather rope, on the pendent were sapphires and rubies surrounding a detailde engraving of Y'ffre, the most important god to Bosmers.

Danya placed her hands on the blood stained book. "Whats this?"

Arcatius looked at the book with tears swelling up in his eyes, "Lia and I wrote to each other using that book. Its not an actual book, just letters to each other."

Danya ran her hands over the cover of the book and open it to a page in the middle. She read the pages she opened to and smiled. "You were really in love." Danya said closing the book.

Arcatius closed his eyes and nodded. He knew this proabaly wasn't the best time to propose his plan but he would do it anyway. "I know how you felt when you lost your parents and Lenius. The pain and sorrow. It hurts. But you wanted revenge. No one messes with family or love..." He paused to look up at Danya.

"Arcatius, no. You don't mean. No I can't._ We _can't." Her face showed fear about what could happen but there was a spark in her eyes showing interest.

"You're goings to have to trust me. This could work. The plan, is quite simple." Arcatius assured her. "All that has to happen is Ciara's location must be found and we have to kill her." Arcatius paused, looking at Danya's unamused glare.

"She's not going to just be by herself." She hissed.

"Well, we'll have to take care of the guards as well." He shrugged.

"Do you even know who she is?" Danya's tone turned serious.

Arcatius shook his head, "Vaguely."

"You only know what I've told you." Danya now glared at Arcatius. "She holds the second highest rank in their army, just behind Ulfric. She has her dirty little fingers wrapped around that Nord brute. The two of them are, um, rather close. And when they aren't wasting time in Windhelm, she is being guarded by their best soldiers."

"Close ties with Ulfric..." Arcatius rubbed his eyes. "We can still do this you know."

Danya shook her head getting up from her chair and crawled back into bed.

**4E 194 Skyrim, 20th of Frostfall**

The next days were quite and uneventful. Arcatius spent most of his time outside and Danya spent her time indoors. The two of them didn't talk much, Danya was still in disbelief over Arcatius's plan.

Arcatius had grabbed a bow off of a bandit he looted in the woods and had been using it to kill game like he would with Lia. The boy had been staying in the heavily treed area from dusk to dawn since he and Dnaya had talked about his plan. He enjoyed the forest, the smell, the breeze, the quite, and the sense of security he felt while hunting, but it wasn't the same with out his lover by his side.

The forest were filled with spiders and bears, and Arcatius hated nothing more than death, bears, Orcs, and spiders. (And being called an elf but he didn't like to talk about that) The young Altmer had managed to kill and skin a fox and two wolves before coming across the first bear he had seen since he had arrived at Danya's home.

Arcatius was still in his robes, he stood no chance against a bear with just a bow and no armor. He was forced to sneak around the giant beast in able to get home. He had almost past the bear when Danya came in to sight.

"Arcatius!" The Dunmer's voice was deep and filled with concern.

The bear woke from its sleep fixing his eyes upon the Dunmer. The bear let out a loud roar that echoed through Arcatius's ears.

"Dammit Danya. What in Oblivion are you doing out here?" Arcatius shouted over the roar from the bear causing more of a stir. His haughty Altmer accent came out strongly when he shouted.

Danya charged two spells in her hands shooting fire bolts and sparks at the bear. Arcatius grabbed his bow from his back shooting what arrows he had left at the creature.

"I changed my mind!" Danya shouted over the bears roars.

"What are you talking about?" Arcatius said irritated.

"Ciara, I want to go on with the plan!" The words left her mouth with ease. She had thought it through over and over and knew she was sure of her decision.

Arcatius stood still unable to speak. He held his bow in front of him with he arrow still nooked. Confusion and anger grew on his face he tried to find words to say but nothing came out. He stood looking at the Dunmer unaware of anything around him until he heard yelling from Danya and the ground shaking beneath him. He turned his attention to the bear but it was too late. The beast jumped on Arcatius pushing him to the ground. Two of his biggest fears stood above him, a bear and death.

An ice spike pierced the bears neck causing the beast to turn his head towards Danya. Arcatius dug his dagger into the bear's throat twisting the blade before pulling it from his hide. The bear took two last deep breaths before he collapsed.

Arcatius had pushed the bear halfway off of him before Danya came over and rolled the beast to his side. The Dunmer held her hand out to help Arcatius up but he refused her help.

Arcatius ran his hand over his robes noticing the blood that covered him. He ripped the robes and shirt from his body leaving him in just pants and boots. Arcatius winced and touched his stinging shoulder. Four deep long scratches ran from his shoulder down his chest still pouring out blood.

Arcatius's chest and arms were covered in scars. Though he had stayed inside and done next to nothing for almost a month he was stilled covered in muscle.

Danya walked over placing a hand on his good shoulder. "Hold still," she whispered. Gold ribbons formed in her free hand as she cast a healing spell on his injuries. The bleeding ceased and the wound started its slow healing process.

Arcatius mumbled, "Thank you." He walked away from the Dunmer heading towards his knapsack. He pulled a white shirt from the sack and pulled it on covering his bare chest.

After skinning the bear he head back to the cottage. "Are you coming?" He said turning around to look at Danya who was still standing still.

She nodded her head slowly then followed him to the house.

"What made you change your mind?" Arcatius questioned while walking home.

"I was never truely against the idea. I just didn't think we could get away with it." She looked over at Arcatius who was giving her a look. "I have an idea my self. I know how to locate Ciara, or at least where we can find information about her."

Arcatius nodded his head looking forward at the now setting sun. Though he had gone nights with little sleep and had just fought a bear, his eyes glistened in the suns bright rays.

"In the morning we leave for Whiterun." Danya said with haste.

"What's in Whiterun?"

"The Battle-Borns and Gray-Manes."


	6. The Beginning of a Long Journey

**Chapter 6**

**The Begging of a Long Journey**

**4E 194 Skyrim, 21st of Frostfall**

For the first time since he had come to Skyrim, Arcatius put on his old armor set. His injured shoulder and chest were greatly exposed concerning Danya.

"Take that armor off." Danya commanded.

Arcatius turned around giving the Dunmer a disgusted look. His white shirt and black pants were thrown at him.

"You're getting new armor. We can sell that set to get a little extra gold." Danya snapped.

"I'm keeping it on until we reach a trade store." Arcatius demanded while throwing his knapsack over his shoulder.

The two Mer left early. The suns rays were glistening on the mountains separating Cyrodill from Skyrim. After walking a short while they were in The Reach. The pines were still scattered in with the yellow birches but there was no need to guess they where they were.

Their journey was uneventful, except for the occasional run-in with a spider. As the sun started to set, Danya insisted that her and Arcatius set up camp near a small lake they came across.

"I think that town over there is Ivarstead." Danya said noding to the small homes and lights shinning in the distance.

Arcatius glanced over at the brightly lit town she was nodding towards. "I doubt there is more than an inn there, if that is Ivarstead. No need to waste the gold when we are just fine here." The boy stood up grabbing his shirt and pants from the knapsack. "I'm going to go freshen up in the lake. I'll be back shortly."

He walked over to a small cliff over looking the lake. Masser and Secunda's light shined off the lake's water. The yellow, orange, and red auroras gave the water a golden look.

He droped the clothes on cliff and his armor next to them and hopped into the lake. Large green glossy plants grew under the water's surface making the bottom of the lake messy. He came up from under the water rubbing the water from his eyes.

Something on a small island caught his attention. A glisten from the moons' light. He swam over to the island to find a chest filled with gold and weapons.

Arcatius walked back over to Danya after a while. His hair was still dripping wet and he only had on his pants. Blood dripped from the wound from the bear and ran down his chest.

"Arcatius, what happened?" Danya said getting a rag out of her sack.

"I found 348 gold, an orcish arrow, and a quiver of orcish arrows." He responded with a smile holding up the gold.

Danya took his armor and shirt out of his hands and threw them on a bed roll. "How did you re-open your wound?" She dabbed the rag on to the wound.

Arcatius looked down at the wound running two fingers over the bleeding area and shrugged looking at the blood run down his hand.

Danya cast another healing spell onto his shoulder stoping the bleeding and gave him his shirt. She took the large bag of gold from his hands and dropped it into her sack with the other gold.

Arcatius sat down on his bed roll by the fire. He ran his fingers through his hair letting water run down his arms. He smirked looking over at Danya. "So, Seras?" He raised his brow when she looked over at him.

"I haven't seen him in four years." She said remorsefuly.

"But you guys..." Arcatius winked.

"Yes, yes. Young love and what not." She looked down at her wrinkled hands and at the gold ruby ring she was wearing.

The word 'young' threw Arcatius off. He stopped running his hand through his still soaking hair.

"I'm not that old," Danya snapped after noticing Arcatius's puzzled look. "Sadly everything I have been through has aged me, I'm only 33."

Arcatius turned red, he didn't mean for her to see the look he made. "You just seem so much wiser than other adults." Arcatius admitted hoping it would work as a good cover up.

Danya nodded her head, "I miss that man." Sorrow filled her eyes and fear struck her. "I hope he is doing alright, he could hardly take care of himself with all the injured soldiers pestering him."

"Well, you're obviously not going to tell me with out asking, so I'm going to ask. How did you two meet?" Arcatius's youth came out when he asked the question.

"Alright, I'll tell you." The memory was fresh in her head.

/

It was the day of Danya's third battle. Her face was clear of dirt and scars. The Dunmer's long hair was tangle free and shinning in the rising sun's light. She had on a thin red tee shirt with the Legion's dragon stitched on the sleeve and brown pants.

She woke up with a sore back. The Legion had set up camp in The Reach. The ground was rocky and hard and the thin bed roll didn't help much.

Danya was one of the first people awake which was nothing new. She looked around the camp. There was one soldier standing in front of a cooking pot still in a shirt and pants. Next to him were two soldiers still half asleep sitting on a log. They were loudly laughing while chugging down bottles of mead. Over all the laughing Danya could vaguely hear two men arguing. One of the voices belonged to Legate Tobias. His easily recognizable voice was deep and raspy, but not like a Dunmer's. He added emphasis to every word he shouted.

Danya got up out of her tent grabbing a book out of her knapsack. She threw her hair up into a messy ponytail and sat down on a chair outside a tent used to hold wounded soldiers.

She opened her book but couldn't focus. The two drunk men were now chanting war songs and the fighting has not ceased. She looked over to see Tobias standing in his tent with a healer.

The healer was a tall young Dunmer. His hair was long and well kept reaching just below his shoulders. His robes were new, _he must be the new healer_, she thought.

"This is going to be a big battle! We are going to need more that just three bottles of healing potions!" Tobias raised his voice.

"Well it'd be great if I had some supplies but it seems as if we have been sent to a waste land. Nothing grows here! I can't just make potions out of nothing!" The Dunmer snapped back. He turned away before Tobias could speak.

The healer stormed out of Tobias's tent over to the Alchemy Lab outside of the healing tent. Danya look at the man resting his hands on either side of the table. He took deep heavy breaths trying to relieve his anger before turning around to sit on the table.

Danya looked him over. His eyes were a deep red and sparkled brightly in the sun's light. He was well kept, his face was clean and his hair had to of just been brushed. The male Dunmer had started to grow out some stubbly facial hair around his face.

He looked in side the tent at the two sleeping healers. "Get up." He kicked his feet against their own.

They lazily looked up at him. "What is it that you want now?" The Nord woman said irritated.

The Imperial lying next to her sat up and greeted the Nord with a soft kiss. Danya turned her head in disgust. Ever since she lost her brother, love had meant nothing to her and even grossed her out.

"Go look for some ingredients. Tobias is getting... Pissed." The male Dunmer's tone was serious. The two love birds stayed where they were staring blankly back at irritated Dunmer. "Now would be nice." He hissed.

The two slipped out of their bed rolls and hustled out into the open rocky hills.

Danya looked over at the male Dunmer, who was now untying the rope holding his robes together. Underneath his robes he wore a thin gray v-neck top, brown pants that drug on the floor, and an Amulet of Arkay hung from his neck.

"Just rest, you'll need the energy for later." Danya said keeping her head down looking at the book.

The Dunmer was thrown off by her. "I'm sorry," he snapped.

"Just about every soldier at this camp today is a new recruit." She glanced up from her book looking at him.

The beauty of Danya caught the healer off guard as he stumbled around for words. "And you are?"

"Danya. I'm one of the new recruits but lucky for you I'm a Mage and won't be bothering you about a scratch I got." She closed the book and turned her body towards the man.

Her statement made the Dunmer chuckle. "If only that was a joke. It's these new kids that are pissing me off. I'm getting no sleep thanks to them and they do nothing but stay in those bed rolls. Absolutely nothing. Oh occasionally they will ask a dying soldier if they need help but that's only if I get on to them about it. The only good that has come out of them is me getting new robes. It was about time I got rid of those blood stained ones. Arkay help me."

Danya nodded her head, "And you are?"

"My apologies, I'm Seras." His dark gray cheeks turned red. "I didn't mean to rant. "

"I understand, I can't stand people in love to be truthful." She frowned thinking about it.

Seras smiled at her and was about to say something when he was interrupted by the camp's blacksmith who pulled him aside to talk. "I'm sorry, we can talk later."

Danya nodded and walked over to her knapsack pulling her robes out. Everyone seemed to be up and ready now. She slipped her robes on and charged a fire bolt into her hands.

"Hey! Hey watch the magic!" A tall muscular Nord sitting by the fire shouted.

Danya gawked at the Nord then charged a frost spell into her palm and casted it upon the fire putting the blaze out. This caused an uproar from the men, especially the one cooking. Seras had been watching and let out a deep laugh.

Rolling her eyes, she strutted over the logs and set them back on fire using her flames spell.

It wasn't long before Legate Tobias gathered everyone together and lead them to the location of the battle, where they would soon find themselves in trouble.

Danya had stayed behind the soldiers shooting fire bolts at the Stormcloaks and occasionally using a raise zombie spell on a dead Stormcloak.

The Legion's men were dropping like flies and it was sure they were going to lose. Danya pulled out a potion of ultimate magika taking a large gulp. She charged a fire rune in her hands using all her magic and casted it on a group of soldiers. They fell to the ground in tears and screams that soon ended leaving nothing but lifeless burnt bodies.

A recognizable scream came from a man. It was Tobias, an archer had managed to snipe him in his abdomen.

Taking another gulp of the potion, Danya conjured a Flame Atronach. She rushed over to the injured Legate who had fallen to the ground.

She was about to pull out a potion of strength to carry the man back to the camp when a steel mace struck her right shoulder blade. The Dunmer screamed in pain, her robes did no protection for her.

Danya turned around twisting her dagger into the mans chest. He let out a quiet gasp before he fell to the ground. Her daedric weapon was now coated in a fresh blood.

Another soldier came running up behind her screaming. "Skyrim belongs to the Nords!"

Danya turned around on her heels looking at the Nord charging at her. His sword ran down her left arm slashing it open and she let out a loud raspy scream. Blood ran down her arm and to the ground staining the grass red. She staggered backwards trying to catch her breath. Danya was in an immense amount of pain and started to see blurry. Her breathing became short gasps of air.

She used her wounded arm to heal herself. She had enough health to kill this Nord and bring Tobias back to the camp, or at least she hoped. The bleeding had almost stopped thanks to her magic and she could now see and breath normally.

Danya grabbed the Stormcloak's face with her bloody hand and drove her blade into his neck. His eyes widened and then went blank as his life was taken from him. His body fell on top of the other soldier that Danya had killed.

She quickly snatched the potion of strength on the ground by Tobias. She chugged the bottle down, then threw the empty glass bottle on ground. The bottle hit a rock and the yellow glass shattered into pieces.

Danya looked at Tobias noticing the significance of his injuries. Not just an arrow pierced his abdomen, but a blade as well. The marks from a steel mace swelled on his face and blood ran from his mouth. It was worse than Danya had originally thought.

"Retreat." The word barely came from his mouth but Danya understood it.

She quickly turned to the remaining soldiers. "RETREAT! LEGATE'S ORDERS! RETREAT!"

The men turned and looked at the Dunmer who was now carrying the Legate back to camp.

She struggled to carry the man twice the size of her back to the camp but she somehow managed to. She lied Tobias's body on the ground outside the tent filled with healers.

Her eyes were growing weak again and the bleeding had returned. Her knees were shaking and she was feeling light headed.

Seras jumped up running to Danya's side. "Freida! Luvis! Get out here and tend to your Legate!" Seras ordered addressing the love birds.

He firmly grabbed Danya by the shoulders making her wince. He picked his hand up revealing it to be covered in her blood. Seras threw Danya's left arm over his neck and swept her up by her knees. He lied her weak body down inside the tent on the bed rolls.

"Don't worry about me! Go take care of Tobias." Danya's voice was weak but still stern.

"Don't be ignorant." Seras hushed her. He ripped the robes from her revealing the severity of the wounds.

Gold ribbons formed in Seras' hands as he healed the young Dunmer girl. He wiped the sweat coming from her forehead.

He pained for this girl as she seemed to be the only reasonable person around. Seras poured a healing potion into her mouth. The red bottle fell to the ground empty. Pain ran through Danya's whole body when Seras rolled her to her side to better examine her mace wound.

She looked down at her arm covered in blood. Her red shirt was now stained with deep red blood. She noticed rips in her shirt and pants. Large cuts that Danya had not noticed lied under the rips.

Danya looked at Seras who was tending to her torn up body. Her vision blurred and started dulling. Everything was slowly turning black until finally she saw and felt nothing.

Danya woke up during the night inside the healing tent and lying on a bed roll. She looked down at her body. She had a new pair of black pants on and a white top. The rags covering her wounds were stained with blood. Her arm was the worst. The cut was deep and had slashed right through her muscle.

The small tent was filled with soldiers who were moaning in pain. Danya turned to lie on her right arm facing away from all the annoying whinny soldiers.

Pain shot down her body as she moved. She squinted her eyes shut and gasped from pain. Cold fingers touched her face smearing blood across her cheek. Danya opened her eyes to see Seras staring back at her.

"You re-opened a wound." He frowned as he lightly dabbed the deep cut going from her temple down to her nose.

"I... I didn't even... Notice it. " Danya took gasps of air as he dabbed the potion covered cloth on her face.

Seras looked at the other soldiers lying behind her. "Just stay quite. Please. I don't want them to wake."

Danya nodded and fell back into a deep sleep with Seras by her side.

/

Arcatius had stayed quiet through he whole story until Danya paused.

"So then you had sex?" Arcatius joked.

It wasn't long before a book was thrown at the boy. "Gods woman, those are hard covers."

"No we didn't." She snapped putting the fire out with a frost spell. "Go to bed."

The mood dropped after a while and the sound of crickets was all that was heard.

"Danya?" A soft whisper came from Arcatius.

"Yes?"

"You have become, well." He paused not knowing how to word what he was going to say. "You have taken the place of my mother."

Danya was shocked, she didn't expect this. She smiled and a feeling of peace and security overcame her. She hadn't realized it until now but Arcatius had become a son-like figure in her life. "Arcatius, you have become like.. my son. Thank you." And with that she fell into a deep slumber.

Arcatius fell asleep quickly under the orange and yellow auroras. His sweet dreams soon turned into nightmares.

He was reliving the day Lia's was taken. Her screams were loud and raspy as Lia cried for Arcatius. His dream sent him into confusion, that was not wood elf's scream, it's was a dark elf's. His nightmare slowly faded away and became reality and he slowly realized it was Danya screaming for Arcatius.


	7. Frightful Awakenings

**Chapter 7**

**Frightful Awakenings**

**4E 194 Skyrim, 22nd of Frostfall**

Arcatius jumped up from his bed roll. Danya was being pinned up to a tree with a dagger at her neck. A large Orc stood in front of her laughing at and enjoying her pain.

"ARCATIUS!" She shrieked.

"Oh look who finally got up to help you." The Orc said calmly. His skin was a dark olive green and yellow war paint ran down his face from the corners of his eyes.

Arcatius had always hated Orcs because of their apperance. They terrified him, but no Orc could terrify him as much as this one did. A giant scar ran across one of his bright blue eyes blinding it. His fur armor exposed his large muscles and what little armor he wore was stained red.

Arcatius went to draw his daggers but was stopped by strong arms -pulling his own arms behind him.

"Danya!" Arcatius shouted. He tried to break lose but the man holding him was much stronger than him.

The Orc sheathed his dagger and picked up Danya and threw her over his shoulder bringing her over to Arcatius.

"You want to tell me how you got this?" He held out the orcish bow that Arcatius had found the night before.

Arcatius said nothing, he just glared at the Orc who was now just inches from his face. The Orc's heavy breathing pounded on Arcatius's face.

The giant man laughed. "No one messes with me, especially an elf." He snarled at the boy.

Anger grew inside of Arcatius. There was nothing he hated more than being called an elf. Everyone that had called him an elf before had either tasted death or gotten a shakening intimidation. But this time Arcatius could do nothing but watch his fear laugh in his face.

The Orc stepped back from Arcatius and threw Danya to the ground. She let out a quiet scream as she hit the rock the Orc had thrown her at.

Danya lied on the ground watching the Orc walk away to search their bags. Her head pounded with pain and she could feel her heart beat in her veins. She struggled to get up but her leg was hurt too bad to put weight on it yet.

Arcatius tried shaking him self free but nothing seemed to be working. The man's hands gripped his arms tighter cutting off circulation.

"I'll just take all of your little treasures then my brother and I will take your lives." The Orc laughed as he went through Arcatius's bag.

Fear struck the Altmer as he realized he was being restrained by an Orc. He broke out into a sweat struggling to free himself.

Danya had picked up her Daedric dagger and was crawling over to the Orc. Arcatius kept the beast's brother distracted by trying to shake himself free.

Danya stood up behind the Orc twice her size and reached around him. Before he could realize what was going on, Danya had ripped his abdomen open. The Orc let out a deep long wail and fell to the ground. His body lied in a pool of blood shinning in the sunlight.

The Orc's brother had watched the whole thing. Anger filled his bones as he squoze Arcatius's arms, almost breaking them. The Orc released one of his arms and pulled out his dagger. Before letting go of Arcatius, the Orc drove his dagger into Arcatius's lower right abdomen.

Arcatius screamed falling to the ground. He moaned in pain as he placed his hands over the stab wound. Blood oozed between his fingers and covered the ground beneath him.

"ARCATIUS!" Danya shrieked watching the boy fall to the ground. She got up ignoring her pain and ran over to the Orc that stabbed Arcatius who was now kneeling over his dead brother's body.

Danya took her dagger with one hand impaling the cheek of the Orc. He grunted in pain but did nothing to stop the Dunmer.

"To Oblivion with both of you." She said under her breath.

"Malacath guide us." He mumbled before Danya slit his throat.

She ran over to her dying friend and placed her hands over his. "This is going to hurt. Please, bare the pain." Her eyebrows scrunched up together and her lips frowned. She poured a bottle of Ultimate Healing into Arcatius's deep wound.

Arcatius let out a loud cry and dug his fingers into the ground. His legs curled up close to his body making it near impossible for Danya to reach his wound.

"Arcatius, bare with me here. Be as still as possible." The Dunmer spoke in a calm comforting voice trying to hold back her fear of losing him.

Arcatius let his legs relax and prepared himself for more pain. Gold ribbons wrapped around Danya's hands as she charged a healing spell into her palms. She casted it on Arcatius's wound bringing him little relief. Arcatius felt more and more pain as the tissue at the bottom of the wound grew together. His teeth gritted together and his eyes squoze shut. Moans of agony escaped from his mouth.

Soon he became limp and everything went numb. His vision blurred and started fading into black. His breathing and heart rate slowed down and everything became fuzzy.

"Y'ffre save me." The words barely came from his mouth as he mumbled them softly.

His shaky hands meet those of Danya's. Tears ran down her aged face as she grabbed his hand.

"It's okay... Arcatius it's fine. You're safe. You're going to be fine." She whispered as she rubbed his cheeks.

Blood ran down the corners of his mouth. His hand dropped from hers and his chest stopped moving.

He was gone.

"No, no. No. Noo!" Danya bursted into tears.

She sobbed over his body before looking up at the town they had talked briefly about the night before.

In disbelief of his death, Danya picked up Arcatius's limp body and ran to the town. Despite her wounds from being thrown at the rock, she ran with great speed.

As she neared the town it became clear where she was. Riften.

Danya was sprinting as she saw the gates to the town. Her breathing was heavy and sweat poured down her face but she was determined.

She charged past the guards at the gate kicking the large wooden doors open.

Danya ran to the middle of the stone path and feel to her knees still holding Arvatius's limp body.

"Help! Someone please!" She cried out as loud as she could causing a bit of a disturbance. "I need a healer!" She cried louder drawing more attention to herself and the lifeless body she held.

She let out deep cried. People stared at the scene she was making, but no one helped her. Tears rolled down her face washing off dirt and blood.

"HELP!... Please..." She whispered.


	8. No hope

**Chapter 8**

**No Hope**

**4E 194, Skyrim 22nd of Frostfall**

Danya sat in the path sobbing. She had just lost yet another person she had grown close to. How could this happen?

She wiped the blood from a corner of Arcatius's lips then slid her hand down to the wound on his abdomen. Her fingers stoped at the amulet he still had hung around his neck. The beautiful gems and pendent were coated in a thick coat of blood.

Her shaky hand slowly made it's way down to the wound. The stab was deep and there was nothing she, or anyone, could do.

Arcatius was gone. His life had been taken from himself and from Danya.

Danya lied his body down and threw her arms over his chest. She clinched onto his shirt and wept over his body.

His chest was not moving and his lips were blue. Blood covered not only Arcatius's body but now Danya's.

A Bosmer ran up to the now hysterical Danya. He placed one hand on Danya's shoulder and slowly moved her arms off of Arcatius's body. Danya looked up from her crying almost blinded by her tears.

The Bosmer was dressed in a brown leather armor set covered in pouches and leather straps. His hood was down revealing his well kept brown hair.

The Bosmer's mouth opened and his eyes widened when he saw the wound. He grabbed Arcatius from her hands cradling his body like a child and ran into a building with him. "Quickly!" He yelled behind him.

"This is the Bunkhouse! Not some lousy excuse for a Temple of Kynareth, leave." The rather unwelcoming greeting came from a tall blonde woman standing behind a counter inside the building.

"I can't exactly hear you, Haelga!" The Bosmer shouted darting up the stairs.

He lead Danya to a large room filled with beds. "This will have to do for now." He said as he lied Arcatius's body on a bed. The Bosmer ripped the shirt from Arcatius's chest.

The woman from behind the counter followed them upstairs. "What did I say? I don't need you ruining these beds. Leave I said. Leave!" The woman was shouting now.

The Bosmer sighed, "Unless you want all of Tamriel knowing of your 'close ties' with Lady Dibella then I'd suggest that you shut up." He said calmly while charging a healing spell in his hands.

He looked up at Danya who was kneeling by the bed crying now. "I'm going to need your help here. Get a potion of healing out of my satchel." He threw the bag to Danya while healing the wound.

The Bosmer looked up to the shadows by the entrance. "Bryn. Go get more healers. Try the Temple of Mara. We are going to need all the help we can get."

"Aye, lass." A voice came from the shadows startling the Dunmer. She turned to look at the entrance but no one was there.

"That was Brynjolf. He's good about blending with the shadows." He paused smirking slightly and looked up at Danya. "Where's that potion?" His voice was a consistent calm tone that assured Danya everything would be fine.

Her shaky hands held out a Potion of Plentiful Healing.

The Bosmer nodded his head. "Good, now pour it into his mouth." The Bosmer still had yet to stop casting the healing spell upon Arcatius.

Danya lifted his head and opened his mouth. She slowly poured the potion down his throat.

"What's his name?" The Bosmer asked so quietly Danya almost missed the question.

"Arcatius." She held the Altmer's hand while charging a healing spell in her free hand. He seemed to pay not attention to her answer, almost as if her already knew the answer.

The Bosmer hummed nodding his head. "Who is he to you?"

"H-he is like a son to me." She enjoyed being able to relate to him like a son.

She broke down in tears crying into his hand and releasing the spell she had been casting upon his wound. "This shouldn't of happened, I could've prevented this!" She wept.

"Shh, it's alright. He is going to be fine." His words weren't convincing enough for Danya, they just struck her with more sorrow.

Haelga's shouting could be heard from downstairs. "Brynjolf! Stop bringing people in here!" Her shouting slowly faded as Brynjolf spoke.

He was quiet and couldn't be heard. The shouts were now muffled and lowered to a normal voice. The sound of glass shattering against the wooden floorboards soon followed the quiet.

"Lady Dibella!" Haelga gasped.

"I warned ya. If you had listened you wouldn't of had your precious statue broken" Brynjolf's voice trailed up the stairs.

"You won't be getting any more from me!" Haelga shouted loudly now.

"I have had plenty better, why do you think I've only come to ya once, lass?" Brynjolf said calmly to Helga as he came from the stairs.

"I snatched up Maramal, Dinya Balu, and Nura Snow-Shod from the Temple." Brynjolf spoke.

"Good, please come help. Quick." The Bosmer spoke somberly.

Brynjolf grabbed Danya by her shoulders and lead her down the stairs. He sat her down at a table and then sat beside her.

An overworked Nord approached the table they were sitting at. "Can I get you something?"

"We'll be fine, lass" Brynjolf said kindly.

After a couple of minutes of silence Brynjolf spoke up. "You alright, lass?"

Danya slowly nodded her head staring at the ring on her finger. It was just about all she had now. She left everything back at the camp and that was the last place she wanted to go now.

"Don't worry, Niruin is taking care of him. He'll be fine. No one has ever died on him before." Brynjolf assured her.

She pulled her hood down from her head. Bruises and dried blood running down her cheeks from cuts covered the side of her face from where the Orc threw her.

Brynjolf gasped at the sight of how bad her bruises were. "I'll umm, be right back, lass." He rubbed her back before taking off upstairs.

"Niruin just give up! The boy is gone!" Maramal snapped. The Redguard had taken his hood off and had covered most of his clothes in blood.

"No, he isn't. I- I can fix this." Niruin panicked.

"What about that Falmer's Blood Elixir that Brynjolf talks so highly off?" Nura spoke. Her pale face was covered in smears of blood.

"Aye. That's just a hoax, lass." Brynjolf spoke stepping out of the shadows.

Dinya was sitting on the bedside pouring potions into Arcatius's mouth. "We will have to move him."

"But where to? The Temple has no room for him!" Maramal was getting irritated. "Or even better. The Hall of The Dead has some open spots!"

Brynjolf slapped him across the back of the head. "Go down there and help the Dunmer, but be nice. No jokes."

"And what is it she might need?" Maramal questioned him.

"She is bruised and cut, badly." Brynjolf said pointing him to the door.

"The Flagon." Niruin's voice was barely above a whisper. "There are empty beds in The Flagon. The girl can come too."

"Aye, smart thinking lass. Now did it occur to you how you'll get him down there?" Brynjolf raised one of his brows questioning the Bosmer.

"Well, if that girl was able to carry him down here, then surely a man of your size can bring him to the Flaggon." Niruin snickered.

Brynjolf rolled his eyes. "Fine, lass."

"I'll wrap him up." Nura said quietly.

Maramal was now dealing with Danya. "What happened?" He said astonished by the significance of their injuries.

"Nothing that I want to talk about." Her voice was somber.

Brynjolf came down the stairs holding Arcatius. He was followed by Niruin then Dinya then Nura.

Danya jumped up from her seat ignoring the priest healing her.

"We are taking him somewhere where you both can stay, lass." Brynjolf said heading out the door. "Nura, Dinya, and Maramal, you can go back to the Temple now."

Maramal jumped on the offer and made his way back to the temple.

"No, I can come with you." Nura argued back. There was no need in arguing with her, she always got her way and they could use the help.

Niruin lead the way staying in the shadows. Danya and Nura had trouble following because of their blending that just occurred for them so naturally now.

The two men lead Danya and Nura to the graveyard. Niruin pressed a stone button on a grave under a canopy. The grave moved back into the wall uncovering a secret entrance.

"Be quiet." Niruin whispered leading the girls to the entrance. "You aren't allowed in here. So stay quiet okay?"

The girls nodded and pulled their hoods above their head.

Inside of the unknown location there were men and women dressed like Niruin shooting arrows, sleeping in one of the many beds surrounding the room, or drinking some mead at a table.

They were able to get by without being seen or at least mentioned. A hall lead them to a room with three beds and a table.

"Welcome to the Cistern." Brynjolf said lying Arcatius down on a bed.

"Is this is a sewer?" Nura asked in disgust.

"Aye that it is." Brynjolf nodded while laughing. He sat on the table behind him pulling his hood down.

"What is this place anyway?" Nura shuddered.

"The Ragged Flagon." Brynjolf said shaking a bottle of mead in his hand.

"In the Ratways?" Nura gasped. "I'm not staying down here much longer."

"Then get over here and help." Niruin mumbled unwrapping Arcatius's bandages.

"You need some sleep, lass." Brynjolf said to Danya nodding his head towards the bed.

Danya nodded. She did need sleep but it would be impossible for her to get any.

She lied down on the bed on the opposite side of the room from Arcatius. The room was cold and the bear pelts didn't keep her very warm. It must of been obvious because not after long another pelt was laid on her shaking body.

She lied there thinking about everything she could of done differently. She could of told him to put the bow and gold back. She could of told him not to leave the camp in be first place. She could of toughened up and kept walking. She could of said no to going on the journey in the first place. She could of not told him her story. Or she even could of told him to find a place to stay other than her cottage.

Danya realized she was tossing and turning when she was shaken by Brynjolf who handed her a warm tankard of mead. "This will help you."

Danya sat up and took a couple of large sips of the steaming mead. The sweet taste of warm honey quenched her thirst. Her chest warmed as the mead traveled down her chest to her empty stomach.

"I'm sorry I didn't even ask your name, lass." Brynjolf said sitting down in a old chair beside Danya's bed.

"Danya." Her words were barely audible, but Brynjolf had keen ears and could easily hear it.

Suddenly, Danya's eyelids became heavy and she grew incredibly sleepy. Her abrupt drowsiness forced her to lie down. Brynjolf took the mead from her hands and walked away.

The tankard was still steaming with beautiful small clouds of warm mead. Danya watched as the clouds clouds swirled up into the air in elegant styles. Her eyelids became too heavy for her to hold up any longer and they soon closed.

The soft sound of a wood wick candle burning next to her bed sent her off into a deep sleep. She curled up under the pelts and was unaware of anything going on in the world.

"Looks like it worked." Brynjolf said sniffing the mead he had just taken from Danya.

"I told you, all my remedies work. Especially my sleeping remedies." Nura smirked.

Niruin sat on the cold stone floor hovering above Arcatius's body. He was focused and working hard. Sweat rolled down his forehead and cheeks. Healing spells wrapped around his palm and Arcatius's deep un-healable wound. The Bosmer had striped down to just his brown leather pants and a white dirt covered undershirt that was now covered in blood.

A small pale hand reached out and grabbed his own. Niruin looked up to to Nura who had been the one to place her hand on his. Her face told what she was about to say.

Nura placed Niruin's hand on Arcatius's body. It was cold. Colder than room temperature. He had been gone for a while now.

"Just let him go." Nura whispered.

Niruin pondered the thought then fell back to the floor. He sat resting up against the wall with his feet kicked out in front of him. A glass red bottle fell from his hand and rolled onto the floor. Niruin leaned his head back and buried his face into his palms.

"It's okay, lass. You tried. He was already gone when you got to him." Brynjolf tried to comfort the Bosmer but nothing seemed to work.

"I'm going to go before my husband starts to worry too much." Nura said exiting the room.

Brynjolf grabbed Niruin's sweaty palms and pulled him up to his feet. "Why do you care so much anyway? You don't even know the boy." Brynjolf showed concern in his question but yet much confusion.

Niruin looked up at Brynjolf. The Altmer's blood smeared across Niruin's face. His eyes were weak looking, surrounded by dark circles and were blood red. The words he spoke were weak, but startling. "I _do_ know him."


	9. Of All The Places

**Chapter 9**

**Of All The Places**

**4E 194 Skyrim, 22nd of Frostfall**

Arcatius was awakened by bright rays shinning in his eyes and the sweet smell of the Valenwood forests. His eyes slowly opened and adjusted to the bright sunlight.

Arcatius was lying in a grass covered opening in a heavily treed area. A warm breeze blew through the field brushing long blades of grass against the Altmer's face.

Tall trees surrounded the opening. Their leaves were still sparkling from the warm drops of water. Radiant red and orange flowers blossomed on top of tall stiff stems.

Everything in the forest had a gentle glow to it. The rough tree trunks gave off a small brown glimmer. The leaves glowed a gentle soft green light. The red flowers emanated bright shades of red and orange.

Arcatius felt his abdomen for his wound that he thought has killed him. He ran his fingers over his warm bare skin. The fatal wound was gone. His body was free of scars. He ran his hand over his shoulder where the bear had clawed his skin. That wound was gone as well.

He was in his old hide armor, though he wouldn't of known it if it weren't for the small bow tied with red rope that Lia had tied one day after a long hunt.

Arcatius held his hand in front of his face. His skin was glowing too, his once yellow skin was now golden and almost looked translucent.

The sound of soft grass crunching beneath someone's feet grabbed Arcatius's attention. A beautiful girl was walking in his direction. Her long brown silky hair blew in the wind and bounced with every step she took.

As she approached closer to Arcatius it became clear she was a Bosmer. She was wearing a strange set of armor. The armor's chest plate had a exquisite and detailed design on it that almost looked like a werewolf. Her shoulders were covered in thick fur and the teeth from beasts poked out of the fur.

The Bosmer dropped her bow to the ground and knelt down next to Arcatius. It was now obvious who the Bosmer was.

"Lia?" Arcatius sat up looking Lia.

Lia wrapped her ghostly arms around Arcatius. Despite their transparent appearance, their bodies radiated warm heat as if they were alive. Arcatius returned the greeting and wrapped his muscular arms around her waist.

He pulled back from the embrace and snuck his fingers in between her fingers. "Where is this? Where are we?"

"You should know." Lia leaned in and whispered into his ear before resting her head on his shoulder.

He pulled her body closer to him. Confusion grew across his face. He had so many questions that needed to be answered but Lia was being the typical herself, not giving definite answers.

It wasn't until now he noticed the forest was flourishing with animals of all kinds. The animals were wide-eyed and light on their feet. They walked with elegance and grace but also also with speed and agility.

Lia's warm hand ran over Arcatius's chest. Through all the confusion Arcatius was in total bliss. He was going to enjoy his time with Lia. It had been a long year for him with out her, nothing in his life was right without her.

They lied down burried in the tall grass. Small kisses were shared between the two before Arcatius was lost in though and couldn't think straight. His mind easily wandered off,_ Where am I? Is this all a dream? _The questions burned in his mind and wouldn't leave.

Rain pouring down from the sky on to the leaves of the tall trees could be heard in the distance. Arcatius took a deep breath in. The warm smell of rain and his old home filled his lungs. The sounds and smells eased him from his questions.

Arcatius was in total bliss. He had his arms around the girl he loves and he was back home. _Maybe everything was just a bad dream and Lia never died. _He thought to himself.

Lia's warm lips touched the corner of his. He turned his head pulling her in to the kiss more. Her warm finger tips ran down his chest. Butterflies tangled in his stomach and warmth laced his body. Arcatius had forgoten how much he had missed this.

The warm sun's rays that beamed down on Arcatius and Lia were covered by thick grey clouds. The gentle warm breeze soon turned into a harsh cold breeze chilling Arcatius. His lover's skin grew cold and he noticed his growing cold as well.

Lia looked upat the sky and sighed. She picked her self upand held her hand out to Arcatius. He grabbed her hand and pulled himself up close to her.

Lia put her hands on Arcatius's shoulders and placed her now cold lips on his. She whispered, "I love you." Into his ear before walking away from him.

Aractius held on to her hand he couldn't let her leave like this, with all the confusion and unexpectedness. Her hand slipped from his grasp and she made her way to the forest. When Arcatius tried to run, he couldn't, almost as if he was in a nightmare now.

"Lia!" Arcatius called out to the Bosmer girl who was now walking away with her bow.

The trees and sky in the distance started to glow brighter and brighter by the second. The soft gentle glow was now almost a blinding light. The wounds on Arcatius were coming back slowly and the pain came back with them. His skin opened and blood slowly poured out.

Arcatius fell back to the ground on his knees in pain. He grabbed his abdomen watching as dark red liquid found its way through his fingers.

His scars slowly started to re-appear, rising up on his chest and arms and he started coughing up gritty blood again. He opened his squinting eyes to watch Lia walk out of sight. She was standing at the trees lining the opening watching Arcatius.

Trees around the opening started to collapse into piles of white ashes. The sky was slowly turning into ashes that just floated in air. Small white little peices of trees and sky fell to the ground like misting rain. The trees collapsed around the opening until they got to where Lia was standing.

The disintegrating trees slowed down to almost a stop. Arcatius couldn't tell if things had really slowed sown or if his mind was playing tricks on him. Every small piece of ash seemed to fall from the trees one at a time. Finally all the trees had fallen into a pile of ashes and it was now Lia's turn to fall.

"Lia? What's going on? Lia!" Arcatius yelled to her but got no reply other than a soft smile.

Slowly her body started to turn into a pile of ashes with the rest of the trees and animals in the area. Her ashes fell slowly to the ground like feathers falling from the tree tops. She held her arms out beside her. Her once warm finger tips disintegrated and fell to the ground in a pile of ash. Lia's legs started to turn to white ash until her whole body was almost gone.

Her whole body fell like small feathers. She was gone. Nothing but ashes.

Arcatius could hardly bare the pain from his re-opened wounds any longer. Moans of pain escaped his mouth and he fell over to the cold ground hoping it was still there and not another pile of ashes.

He lied on the ground in tears. Breathing was a chore and sharp pains leaced his spine when he took deep breaths. His legs started to tingle and go numb. The grass was stained bright red and Arcatius couldn't stand the pain any longer.

Aractius lets his hands fall from the wound. He had no idea what was going on, but he wasn't going to fight it anymore. His vision slowly blurred and dulled turning into black. His breathing slowed down before ceasing again.


	10. Old Plans

**Chapter 10**

**Old Plans**

**4E 194 Skyrim, 22nd of Frostfall**

Brynjolf looked at Niruin with a blank stare. "I'm sorry, lad? What did you say?"

"I know Arcatius." The Bosmer looked over at Arcatius's cold dead body lying on the bed.

Brynjolf raised an eyebrow giving Niruin a puzzled look. "How?" His question hung in the air waiting for an answer.

Niruin picked up a bloody rag and threw it over his shoulder letting out a deep sigh. "I'll tell you tomorrow. I've had a long day and need some rest." The Bosmer walked out of the room after shaking Brynjolf's shoulder.

**4E 194 Skyrim, 23rd of Frostfall**

The next morning went by slowly. Danya stayed asleep most of the morning and when she wasn't asleep she was lying in bed tossing and turning trying to forget about everything.

Occasionally, Brynjolf would check in on Danya, but he spent most his time in the Ragged Flagon. Most of his work was ordering people around and giving them jobs but the Guild's work had started declining and was not doing well.

The slow morning passed and the day slowly made its way towards noon. Brynjolf decided it'd be best if he went back to check in on Danya.

He slowly made his way down the hallways that lead to the room. He placed his warm hand on the cold doorknob but paused. There was soft muffled voices coming from inside the room.

He slowly opened the door and found Niruin already in there. He was sitting on Danya's bedside comforting her. Tears were streaming down the Dunmer's face and quiet sobs were escaping from her.

Niruin looked up at Brynjolf, who was now closing the door behind him. The Bosmer's arms were wrapped around Danya holding her close. It was obvious she had just got the offical news.

On the opposite side of the room was Cynric Endell. He sat back in a chair with his feet kicked up on the table and a bottle of mead up to his mouth.

"Well you could at least say something to the poor girl rather than just starring at her." Cynric's raspy voice echoed through the cold room.

Brynjolf shot him a glare and then walked over to Danya's bed. He sat beside her brushing away strands if hair from her face.

"I'm sorry, lass." Brynjolf whispered knowing the words meant nothing to her.

The sound of wood dragging against the stone floor made everyone look up. Cynric was dragging his chair over to her bedside. He twisted the chair and sat down stumbling a little. "Alright, we are all here, Niruin. Tell us your story."

Niruin turned his body to rest his back against the wall and kicked his feet up on the bed behind Brynjolf and Danya.

"Fine." He sighed. "Brynjolf, remember the sister I had that was coming to the guild?"

"Aye." Brynjolf answered looking up at the Bosmer.

"Well _I _don't." Cynric snapped.

Niruin rolled his eyes, "Over a year ago I got a note from my sister saying she was leaving home to come up here with me. I had not told her I was joining the guild, I had just said I was coming to eastern Skyrim. How that note reached me, is beyond my understanding. She told me an elaborate plan of how she was going to leave one night and she wouldn't be alone. She was going to bring a boy with her. "

Danya looked up from her tears at the wall in front of her. She knew too well where this was going.

"She told me she would write me letters about her journey and where she was currently." Niruin paused to laugh. "She made it clear not to write back. After about a week from reviving the letter saying she was leaving, I got a letter about her first traveling. She had only made it a couple of miles out of town that day. Most of the note was about the boy she was traveling with."

Danya's head fell on to Brynjolf's shoulder. Brynjolf grabbed the grieving girl and pulled her in closer.

"I didn't receive another note for a while. I didn't think about it any, she didn't ever stick to her word and I was out doing jobs for the guild. After a rough job in Dawnstar, that almost got me in a lot of trouble," Niruin glared at Brynjolf.

Brynjolf knew what job he was talking about and laughed at the thought of what had happened.

"Anyway, after that job, I returned to Riften and was greeted by a courier with a letter and a small coin purse. I took the note and purse and left. Before the boy could say anything, I had disappeared into the shadows. I made my way down to the Cistern and then read the letter. Tears wrinkled little spots on the paper and blood was smeared along with the ink. It said that my sister was killed. The note went into deep details about her death. He apologized and apologized, but there was no need for that. At the bottom was his name. Arcatius."

"Lia. She was your sister?" Danya's voice was barely above a whisper.

Niruin nodded his head. "I haven't heard that name in a while. You've heard the story. Yes, Lia is my sister."

"Did you know him before you left?" Cynric looked over at Arcatius's body lying on the bed.

"Yes, our fathers took us hunting together sometimes but he was much younger than me. I guess I should of mentioned that I knew she was with him all along. That's the only reason I let her come to Skyrim and the only reason I didn't write back, I knew that boy had enough strength and skill to bring her to Skyrim. If I could make the journey here, then he could easily make it here."

Silence crowded the cold small room. The four sat there almost awkwardly.

"I'm sorry about both of your losses." Cynric's voice broke the closing in walls of uncomfort.

"We have work to do, but you are more than welcome to stay here for the night if you'd like to, lass." Brynjolf said making his way towards the door. "Why don't you get something to eat at the Flagon?"

Danya just sat on the bed and nodded her head.

Everyone left the room except for Danya and Niruin who still sat on the bed.

"Why did you come and help me?" Danya's voice was shaky.

Niruin looked up at Danya. He took in a deep breath, "Well, I had been close by. In the shadows of the building we ran in, actually. I saw everything go down. I saw you run into Riften with Arcatius and collapse on the ground with him. I was about to leave when something caught my eye. The amulet around his neck."

"Lia's amulet?" Danya looked over at Arcatius's body.

"Yes, the amulet I carved and gave to her myself. She added the jewels later on." Niruin sighed. "Then I walked over to you. I knew only a few people could have that necklace. My patents or Arcatius, and obviously it couldn't of been my parents."

The two sat in silence for a while before Niruin spoke up again.

"The kid hasn't changed a bit. Looks wise of course. But he's still the same strong tall Altmer I remember him to be." He looked at the Altmer lying on the bed. "Except, he cut his hair. Lia liked that about him. She always talked about 'his long golden locks', I never understood her."

Danya giggled but she couldn't say anything. She didn't want to do anything for the rest of the day but lie down and go back to before this all happened.

"I don't know why I'm so upset about this. I have been through this before twice." The words came out of Danya's mouth before she could stop them.

"Of course you're upset." Niruin showed empathy when he spoke.

Danya spoke with regret, "I just met him, and I let him die. I could have prevented this. All of this."

Niruin scooted over to sit beside Danya. He wrapped one arm around her rubbing her shoulder. "You may not believe me, but I know how you feel. I lost my sister." He paused, "I promised her and myself that I would go back to Valenwood and bring her here to Skyrim to live the thieve's life with me. Then she decided to leave on her own, and she died so fast."

"I'm sorry." She whispered.

Danya and Niruin sat in silence for a couple of minutes before Danya picked herself up from the bed. "I'm going to get a bite to eat. You should too."

Niruin nodded his head and then lead Danya to the Flagon. They sat down at a table and were soon given warm steaming bread. The food relieved Danya's hunger and she quickly finished her bread before Niruin has even touched his food.

"Are you okay?" Danya rested her arms on the table.

"Yes, yes. I'm fine. It's just... I told her if she came across any bears that she needed to run and not fight against them." Niruin said holding his head up with one hand.

"I'm sorry? I don't think I understand what you mean." Danya said lifting a tankard to her mouth.

Niruin held his head up to look at Danya. "Lia was killed by a bear. Didn't Arcatius tell you?"

Danya almost choked on her wine. Arcatius had lied to him in the letter. "Oh, um yes. Uh what exactly did the letter say?"

"He said that a bear attacked their camp and tore her up. He was able to kill the bear but he couldn't save Lia. Um are you okay?" He asked somewhat confused.

Danya was still choking on her wine. "Yes, I'm fine." She paused to cough. "Just swallowed some wine wrong!"

Cynric came in the Flagon and took a seat by the two. Sweat dripped down his face and his hands and feet were covered in thick brown mud. He placed a large coin sack on the table and laid various gems of all sorts of colors down next to it.

"Where have you been, lad?" Brynjolf appeared from the shadows of the Flagon.

"I was working that job you gave me at Merryfair Farm." Cynric panted. He grabbed a bow from his back. "Here. I managed to get it and as you can tell I picked up some other valuables."

"What's with all the exhaustion?" Niruin raised an eyebrow.

Cynric chuckled. "Exhaustion? I don't know what you're talking about. Oh, maybe it was just the wolves and spiders and guards chasing me."

"You got caught?" Danya smiled still looking at her tankard. Everyone had almost forgotten she was there until she spoke up.

"Uh... Yeah, but I got away. There was a guard I didn't see hiding in the windmill, he called for more guards once he saw me." Cynric stumbled with his words.

Brynjolf sat down at the table. "Lass, how'd you.."

"That this was the thieves guild?" She interrupted. "Niruin kinda gave it away when he talked about hiding in the shadows and then we came down to a sewer in Riften? Dead give away." She spoke calmly.

The three men sat in shock. No one could say anything, they thought they had hid it well until Cynric came in with his loot.

"You should of jumped in the lake. They would of lost you instantly and you wouldn't be all muddy." Danya laughed at Cynric for not thinking of that himself.

He glared back at her under his hood. "They can always be cleaned." He kicked his boots off and unbuckled the mud covered straps on his armor leaving him with just and under shirt and his muddy guild pants on.

The rest of the day was uneventful and bored most of the guild members. They had little work to do so most of them said a few words to Danya.

Rune and Niruin were the only people to stay and sympathize with Danya. Rune came to talk to Danya once he saw her in the Flagon expecting her to be a new recruit.

They shared each others stories in the small room with Arcatius's body. They shared mead sweet rolls for the remainder of the evening.

"The Guild hasn't been doing so well has it?" Danya questioned while finishing off her sweet roll.

"You can tell? Yeah, Delvin says it's a curse. Just started going downhill too." Rune's voice was calm and quiet. He brushed his long brown hair out of his face before taking another swig of mead.

Danya smiled and opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by a knock at the door followed by Niruin and Brynjolf.

"The priestess of Arkay will be coming first thing tomorrow. You should say your goodbyes now." Niruin spoke softly.

The mood dropped after he brought up Danya's dead friend. Danya dropped her fork she had been pushing crumbs around with and turned her head to the bed with Arcatius. She pushed herself out of the chair she sat in and slowly made her way to Arcatius's bedside.

She knelt down and grabbed his hand. Warm tears fell down her face and on to Arcatius's hands.

Niruin had wrapped up his wounds and given him new clothes. He now wore a clean black shirt and light brown pants.

Danya sat by his side crying for a while before she was dry of tears and her heart just ached. Rune walked over to Danya's side. He held her by her shoulder and pulled her up from her knees. She fell into Rune burying her face into his chest letting the tears come back.

Niruin sat in the corner of the room at the table where the two had originally sat. He let his head hang down. His face was covered by. The shadow of his hood, hiding his pain and sorrow.

Eventually, Danya couldn't cry anymore. All the tears became silent weeps and heavy breathing. She struggled to sit down in the chair by Arcatius's bed, she was only able to with the help of Rune.

Rune lied Arcatius's hands back on top of his body. "It's weird how someone can be dead but feel so alive."

Danya looked at Rune showing a furious yet confused face.

"Ya know, his skin is so warm. You'd expect someone who's life has been given to the gods to be cold. And his skin still has such vibrant color." Rune looked over Arcatius's body.

Niruin's head perked up when he heard Rune. "For the love of Nocturnal, what are you talking about?"

"He, he just seems lively. I don't know. Last time I was around a dead body was..." Rune paused to think, "Ah who knows! I probably don't know what I'm talking about. But I swear he just looks alive. It's amaz-"

Rune was cut short by Niruin dashing over to Arcatius's body.

He was right. Arcatius's skin had become his original vibrant yellow and his veins had risen. His lips were no longer blue and had turned back to the pinkish yellow they used to be.

Niruin looked up wide-eyed at the now confused Rune. The Bosmer gently placed two fingers to Arcatius's neck. He held his hand there for a short while before letting it drop to his side.

There was a faint pulse.


	11. Troubles

**Chapter 11**

**Troubles**

**4E 194 Skyrim, 23rd of Frostfall**

Niruin collapsed on the bed in relief. Danya and Rune starred at him in a state of confusion.

Niruin looked up from the furs he was burying his face in. A small smile could be seen under the shadow covering his face. He shortly let out a small laugh.

"He's alive." Niruin's voice was barely above a whisper.

Danya jumped up from her chair at the glisten of Niruin's words. "Alive?" She stood over Niruin and Arcatius.

"By the divines, I have never been so confused." Rune was talking to himself. Danya and Niruin were in their own state of bliss.

Niruin had thought for sure that Arcatius's life had slipped between his fingers, but he had in fact saved him. He slowly stood up next to Danya, still joyous over Arcatius's pulse.

Danya threw her warm arms around him in a tight hug. "Thank you." She whispered to him contently.

Brynjolf walked in the room confused by all the smiles and giggles of joy he had over heard. "Might I ask-"

"Brynjolf! Someone who hasn't lost it." Rune threw his head back and his arms up greeting Brynjolf.

Niruin looked up from the hug he was sharing. "Brynjolf!" He pulled back from the hug and rushed over to Brynjolf placing his hands on his shoulders. "He's alive." Niruin's eyes were glistening under his hood.

Brynjolf scrunched his eyebrows together and stared at Niruin for a moment. "The boy?" He turned to Rune with the same expression.

Rune shrugged his shoulders. "Sounds like necromancy to me!"

Brynjolf slowly made his way to the bed. Arcatius's body was restored to its original color. His cheeks were their original rosy color and his lips were now full.

Brynjolf reached his two fingers out to Arcatius's neck. He stayed there for a moment before letting his arm drop to his side.

Silence over powered the room. Brynjolf brushed his hair behind his ears still looking down at the boy. He pulled Arcatius's black shirt up above his abdomen exposing his covered wound. Brynjolf's hand gripped his glass dagger and he cut away the wrappings.

His mouth opened slightly and his eyes opened wider. "The gods didn't want him yet." Brynjolf whispered.

Niruin and Danya gathered around the bed looking at Arcatius's wound. Their jaws dropped.

Danya raised her trembling hand to her mouth. "How? I don't understand how this is possible." Her words were long and her voice was raspy.

Arcatius's wound had healed well. Very well. The once torn up red skin around the wound was now a dark shade of pink. Dried and cracked blood caked on top of the open flesh protecting it from the world. The dagger deep wound was now only as deep as a pinky finger. New tissues grew together closing up the wound.

Niruin still stood in awe. He looked down at the bottle he had dropped on the floor the night before. The Bosmer picked the red bottle up by the neck. Half a glass of liquid still sat in the bottle unused.

"What is that, lad?" Brynjolf touched the bottle with his fingers letting them slid down to the bottom curve.

"A healing potion. I- I thought it was just a potion of ultimate healing. But, no it's much more powerful than that." Niruin's hood covered up his expression of shock and wonder.

Niruin turned around to face Arcatius, he lifted the boy's head up and opened his mouth. The cold bottle was placed to his lips. As the bottle rose, pink liquid poured out into his mouth until the bottle was emptied.

"Rune, go tell the Priestess of Arkay she is no longer needed." Brynjolf turned his head in Rune's direction.

Rune walked out of the room mumbling to himself.

Danya sat down in the chair by Arcatius's bed. For the first time since that dreadful morning, Danya wore a genuine smile. Her white teeth shined in the candle's flickering light. She brushed the faded black pieces of hair that fell in front of her face to the side.

They watched as Arcatius's chest slowly rose and fell with every breath he took. Each breath was a new promise of life for the boy.

"It's late, even for a thief." Cynric's voiced echoed in the room. He rested his shoulder on the door frame watching over everything.

"Where's you're guild armor, lad?" Brynjolf said eyeing his dirt covered white tee and long black pants.

They sat in the room in silence for a while. The only sounds were an occasional yawn and the tapping of feet.

Niruin still stood beside Arcatius holding the red bottle in his hands. He sniffed the bottle still in confusion of how it was even possible that Arcatius is alive.

"It's like three A.M." Cynric shook his head while walking over to the group.

"What about that job?" Brynjolf grabbed Cynric's shoulder, restricting him from going any further.

"I did that hours ago! Gave the items to Mercer." Cynric pushed his hand off his shoulder and stood by Arcatius's bedside. "Oh yeah, Mercer isn't exactly, um, happy about this whole situation."

"This situation being Arcatius?" Niruin looked up at Cynric.

"Well that _is_ about the _only_ thing going on in the guild now!" Cynric spoke in a sarcastic tone throwing his hands up.

The room fell quiet. Everyone had dark circles underneath their eyes. Cynric was right, they needed sleep.

"Let's get some rest." Niruin's expression was unenthusiastic as he walked out of the room.

Danya blew the candle out by Arcatius's bed. The only light left to guid her to her own bed was from a single candle on the nightstand by her own bed.

She slid under the dusty pelts on the bed and blew the candle out. The thought of having Arcatius back sent her in to a deep sleep.

Outside the room, Brynjolf pulled Cynric aside in the shadows. He looked around the guild to make sure no one was near by. "How did Mercer find out?" Brynjolf spoke in a low whisper.

"The whole guild knows, Bryn." Cynric spoke normally and was not in any fear of being heard.

"They think he's dead. How does Mercer know he is alive." Brynjolf spoke slowly treating Cynric like a child.

A half grin grew on Cynric's face and he let out a small laugh while scratching the back of his head. "Hah, About that."

Brynjolf's calm expression soon turned into one of anger. He grabbed Cynric's dirty white shirt. "What did you do?" Brynjolf spoke through his teeth.

Cynric's eyes were wide and his voice was shaky. "Rune told me about Arcatius being alive-"

"_You _told Mercer?" Brynjolf was furious.

"Not intentionally." Cynric's voice drifted.

Brynjolf pinned Cynric against the wall. "We have been on pins and needles with Mercer since that last contract that we failed, and we don't need to be pulling any more strings."

The failed contract's memory was all too vivid for Cynric. Fear laced his veins as he realized what Brynjolf was getting at.

"Maven's contract? The one that was supposed to be an easy job, but then we got thrown in jail." Brynjolf emphasized ever word he spoke.

"It wasn't even my fault!" Cynric defended himself.

A new voiced echoed through the hall from the shadows of the candles. "Cynric, you aren't one to get scared easily, but I guess even _Brynjolf _has his effects on people." The man's voice was scratchy and had a classic Brenton accent.

Brynjolf turned his head sharply in the direction of the voice while releasing Cynric from his tight grip.

"Mercer, I uh-" Brynjolf trembled standing in front of his guild master.

"Yes, I know about this, uh, _situation_ of yours. However, I also know that, Niruin was the one to make the offer that this kid stays here." Mercer reached for the shadows pulling Niruin into the light.

"I'm sorry guys." Niruin didn't say the words but mouthed them to Brynjolf and Cynric. He was dressed like Cynric, in a tattered white tee and floor length black pants.

"We have a problem don't we?" Mercer said pulling Niruin over to Brynjolf and Cynric. "_Don't we_?" He repeated his question eyeing Niruin.

Niruin rubbed his eyes, "I suppose." His voice was raspy showing his exhaustion.

"People who aren't a part of the guild aren't allowed in, and they aren't a guild member." Mercer now held his hand on Cynric's shoulder but he kept his gaze on Brynjolf. "And you. Guild second, huh? You aren't supposed to let these things happen. If Vex and Delvin weren't working on a contract now, they would of had this under control and we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"I wouldn't of saved the kids life with them here either." Niruin was mumbling to himself but Brynjolf overheard him and chuckled.

"I don't have time to deal with you or that kid or old woman in there! I will give them a week then they have to find a new place." Mercer kept quiet but his words were aggressive and harsh.

Cynric pointed his finger at Mercer ready to say something but he was interrupted by Niruin. "What are we supposed to do? Tell them they can stay here only to kick them out on the streets with nothing?"

Cynric finally got a word in, "He is right. She told Rune that they went adventuring and then the got attacked. When the boy got stabbed she left everything at their camp and ran straight to here. No gold. No weapons. Nothing. I wouldn't be surprised if someone didn't come by and take it all."

Mercer gawked at them. "That's their own problem, not ours."

"It's fine, really." Danya's voice came from the shadows behind Mercer. "We can stay at an inn, or maybe if I get enough gold I can afford to take him back home." She stepped into the light.

"I thought you were asleep, lass." Brynjolf spoke since the others were silenced from the embarrassment of her overhearing.

"Was, but now I'm awake now." She stretched her arms out. Her joints popped and her bones cracked. Pain laced down her arm from the tension on her cuts and bruises.

"_See?_ She is fine with it!" Mercer grinned slyly and shook Niruin's and Cynric's shoulders.

"Oh yes, completely fine!" Danya smirked. "And I'm sure your guild mates are fine with this, Mercer?" She reached into her pocket in her robes and pulled out a folded piece of paper and then proceeded to read from it. "Haelga, I enjoyed our time together the other night and hope we can get together some other time. I was-"

Mercer cut her words off by his hands grabbing her robes and then throwing her against the wall. "Where did you find that?" He said through his teeth.

Danya kept the same smirk across her face. "You shouldn't leaves things like this in your pockets to be found _ever_ so easily." She put the letter against his chest and then pushed him off of her. "Now if you don't mind I will be heading to bed. I need to get some rest before the rest of the guild hears about your 'personal contracts'."

"You wouldn't." Mercer mumbled.

"Oh watch me, the whole hold will know about it by evening tomorrow. That is unless, you let Arcatius and me stay here until he is well again." She smirked.

Mercer grumbled. "Fine, but no longer."

**4E 194 Skyrim, 24th of Frostfall**

Danya slept well knowing that she and Arcatius could rest in the Flaggon until he got well.

When she woke, Cynric was asleep in a chair by the closed door. His head was rested against the wall and a bottle of mead was dangling from his fingers.

"Cynric?" She said as she stretched her arms out by her side.

Cynric woke up from his heavy sleep and dropped his bottle, letting mead be spilled on the stone beneath him. "Well, I guess I'm gonna have to clean this up."

"Good morning to you too." She sighed. "And what are you doing asleep in here?"

He got up from his chair and grabbed a rag lying on a table in the middle of the room. "Bryn was in here, then Niruin came in, then me." He said shrugging his shoulders.

"That doesn't answer the question." Her tone changed to a more assertive one.

"Well, I'm sorry, do you want me to spell it out for you?" He dropped the rag on the ground and then used his foot to clean up the mess. "Look, you pissed Mercer off, and _no one _gets away with pissing him off. If he doesn't get to you, then Dirge will."

Danya shivered at the thought of Dirge and how he could crush her easily. She had meet him the day before and not gotten a good vibe from him, she guessed it was the whole 'They call me Dirge because it's the last thing you hear before they put you in the ground.' approach. "I forgot about him."

She got up from her bed side and walked over to Arcatius. Niruin must of have tended to his wounds while Danya was sleeping, because Arcatius had fresh bandages around them.

"You sound unconcerned. Do you know the extent of torture Dirge would put you through? This isn't just any thief we are talking about, it's our guild master. If he finds out, you're dead and it won't be a quick and easy death." Cynric spoke in a whisper while walking over to Danya's side.

"That _does_ sound like something I should concern myself with." Danya brushed the whole idea aside trying to keep the horrifying thoughts away.

She reached her hand out to feel Arcatius's pulse. His skin was cold but the pulse was strong.

Danya got up from the chair she was sitting in and grabbed the pelts off her bed to cover Arcatius with.

"You can't ignore this." Cynric stood in front of Danya when she turned around.

"I think ignoring it might be the best idea for me." She said calmly walking around him.

Cynric stood in the same spot in disbelief. "You have gotten yourself into a big problem." He walked over to her and took a pelt then lied on top of the boy. "Assassins and thugs will be sent after you. This doesn't end when you leave."

"Hah, you think I've never taken on an assassin before? Cute." Danya scoffed.

Cynric said nothing and just looked at Danya with his eyebrows scrunched together.

"You know nothing about me. I have fought in war as one of the first mages for the Legion." She smiled while straightening the furs on Arcatius.

Cynric stood with his mouth agape. "I had no idea."

Danya sat back in the chair by the bed. "Oh the stories I could tell."

Cynric cleared his throat and pulled a chair up next to her. "Care to share?"

She smiled slightly. "Fine, fine. Just listen."


	12. A Promising Future

**Chapter 12**

**A Promising Future**

**4E 194 Skyrim, 1st of Sun's Dusk**

The next days went by too slow for Danya. She spent her time by Arcatius's side watching his every movement, hoping he'd awaken.

When she wasn't pondering or day dreaming she was sharing stories with Brynjolf, Cynric, Niruin, or Rune about her past. She told war stories, family stories, and even stories about Seras.

The day was nearing its end and the thieves were making their way inside the Cistern. Danya sat in the cold room looking at the ring Seras had left her with when Brynjolf walked in with a letter in his hands. His face showed fear but yet he seemed so calm. He sat down at a chair pulled up by Arcatius's bed.

"There something wrong?" Danya said still looking at the ring.

"Aye. That there is. Maven wants us to do another job for her. As if the last one wasn't enough trouble." Brynjolf rapidly tapped his foot on the stone floor in anxiety.

"What happened last time?" Danya almost regretted asking.

Brynjolf looked up at her with the same fearful expression. "Cynric got a contract from Maven. She wanted him, Sapphire, and me to put a meadery just getting started in Helgan out for good. How? It seemed simple enough. Break in to the home of the girl take her gold and her papers from a safe." Brynjolf paused. He regretted that night. It wasn't the first time he had spent time in jail but he lost respect, dignity, and will when he was caught in Helgen. Each word he spoke made the memory more and more clear.

* * *

It was a dark night just like the ones thieves dream of. The last shower of rain had just fallen, leaving a heavy layer of fog on the ground and thick clouds in the sky. The little light there was came from the windows of homes and inns filled with the village's people. The damp musky atmosphere kept the people inside, with the exception of the occasional Imperial solider guarding the area.

Helgen was surrounded by a large stone wall covered in vines. The smooth rocks that made up the wall were damp and slippery from the rain.

Brynjolf, Cynric, and Sapphire were hiding in the bushes just outside of the town. Droplets of water that fell from the tree rolled right of their leather guild armor.

Brynjolf lead the trio coming out of the wooded area first. "We have to jump this wall." He spoke in a low whisper even though no one was around to hear except his guild mates.

Sapphire came out of the woods next pushing branches out of her way only to let them hit Cynric, who wasn't too far behind her. "Are you an idiot?" She was carefree and speaking loudly almost as if she wanted to be heard. "Jump _that_ wall? There _is_ a working gate right over there."

"You're the idiot here, Sapphire." Cynric gawked at her and spoke in a low whisper. "The Legion is smart enough not to let a thief in, and if we were even able to get in, we'd have soldiers following us with every step we took. Hopping this wall is our only bet."

Brynjolf looked at Cynric and nodded his head. He looked over the area to find a spot best to start climbing at.

The wall was much taller than the thieves. Two large towers sat at either end of the wall looking over the town and its exterior. Candles' orange glow flickered through tower's small windows. Shadows on the wall showed that the guards that rested inside were the least bit concerned with anything going on outside.

Brynjolf managed to climb half way up the slick wall before a strong hand grasped a strap on his armor and yanked him to the ground. His fingers slipped and his boots gave him no traction as he slid down the stone wall. He hit the ground hard and landed on a rocky patch of what used to be dirt, but now was mud. His head pounded and his hands were scratched up from the rocks.

Brynjolf lifted his upper body up with his shaky arms. He looked up at Sapphire, who was now climbing the wall in the same spot that he was in.

Cynric raged, "Who do you think you are? You can't just throw people to the ground!" He was not being careful to keep his volume low.

Sapphire was struggling to make her way up the stone wall. "I was tired of waiting. So I took matters into my own hands."

"Brynjolf made better time than you!" Cynric walked over to Sapphire ready to pull her from the wall. "And I'd bet-"

_"Shut up." _Brynjolf whispered harshly. The aggression in his voice brought on heavy coughing that he tried to keep quiet.

The two thieves by the wall kept still and quiet watching Brynjolf struggle for air.

Brynjolf pushed himself off the ground and walked over to the wall with haste. He looked up at Sapphire still hanging on the wall. "Ready?"

"For what?" She questioned.

Brynjolf laughed briefly and then pulled Sapphire's feet into his palms. He pushed her body above his head until she was at the top of the wall. His muscles burned and his head throbbed with every second he held her.

Sapphire pulled herself up on to the top of the wall. She sat above Brynjolf scowling down at him. With one swift throw of her legs, Sapphire was on the other side of the wall inside the quiet town.

"Your turn." Brynjolf turned his attention towards Cynric.

Cynric shook his head. "I've got this." He walked away from the wall back to the shrubs and then turned facing the wall. The Brenton sprinted at the wall nearly three times the height of him. His feet pounded into the ground with every large step he took. Just before he reached the wall, Cynric leaped up in the air and latched onto the rocks just below the top. He pulled himself up and threw his body over the barrier with ease.

Shortly after, Brynjolf dropped down from the top of the wall. He spent no time talking and made his way sneaking through the tall flowering plants behind the buildings.

A large house sat dark and empty on the opposite side of the village. The thieves were able to easily sneak past the guards and were at the home picking the lock in no time. Cynric and Sapphire watched around town while Brynjolf picked the lock on the front door.

After a successful pick, the door slowly creaked open just wide enough for someone to enter.

The house was dark inside. Only three windows let light inside. Strong smells of alcohol and lavender filled the thieves' lungs.

"Sapphire, look for anything we might want to sell, and Cynric, you keep watch out the window." Brynjolf said in a low whisper.

Cynric stood by a window while Sapphire frantically opened draws and chests looking for anything of value. Brynjolf was in the corner of the room standing in front of a large table.

Lavender stalks sat in a basket on the table top alongside juniper berries, books, notes, and letters. A dusty strong box and a log book with clean and crisp pages lied on the other end of the table.

Brynjolf pulled a new lock pick out of a pouch on his chest. He brushed his red tangled hair behind his eat and began work on the box. After a few turns and a few snapped picks, the box opened. Inside the box lied a large sum of gold and a neatly folder piece of paper that held the recipe for the new mead. Some gems and a gold diamond necklace added on to the treasure with in the box.

Satisfied, Brynjolf tucked the note away in the pouch with his lock picks and put the coin purse in a larger pouch on his side. He held the gems and necklace in his hands to give to Sapphire.

A muffled clinking sound of glass tapping against glass came from under the table as Brynjolf got up from his knees. He reached his hand under the table until it touched the textured feel of an old woven basket and then pulled it out next to him.

Inside the basket were well over a dozen bottles of mead. The amber bottles were cold and had a small simple label that read 'Mead with Juniper Berries'.

A wrinkled paper lied on top of the mead that said:

Vilod,

The mead is ready for tasting at the inn tomorrow. Don't drink any of them! All I need you to do is tidy up the inn.

Thanks,

Ingrid

Brynjolf tossed the note aside and opened up a bottle of the cold mead. The sweet peppery berry smell of junipers and warm sugary smell of honey warmed his body as he brought the bottle up to his nose. He pressed the cold bottle to his lips and let the cool liquid pour down his throat.

The mead was perfectly delicious. It had a thick texture that flowed with ease down his throat and stayed in his mouth making him crave more. A gentle hint of honey could be tasted beneath the strong, sweet, piney, and fruity taste of the juniper berries. The mead also had a certain salt and peppery taste that warmed Brynjolf's senses.

He took another large swig of the mead enjoying every drop of it. Brynjolf took a large gasp for air after finishing the bottle. He put the bottle back into the basket and grabbed three fully filled bottles with one hand. Each bottle fit nicely into a pouch on his armor. With the other hand, he grabbed three more bottles and then kicked the basket back under the table.

Brynjolf walked over to Sapphire and Cynric. "Try this." He said tossing them each a bottle.

"How hard did you hit your head? I'm not drinking this." Sapphire said in disgust. She looked to Cynric for back up but he was already chugging the mead down.

"I wouldn't of hit my head if it weren't for _someone_ throwing me off the wall." Brynjolf scoffed.

Cynric licked the mead from his lips. "No wonder Maven's afraid of her. This is delicious."

"And it will be the last bottle you get! We are putting them out of business." Sapphire had still yet to drink her bottle but the idea of drinking it never left her mind.

With a simple flick of the thumb, Sapphire popped the cork from the glass bottle. She raised the bottle to her lips but paused before the bottle touched her. The warm and inviting smell of the mead overwhelmed her. She shook any doubts she had left about drinking the mead off and took a large swig of the golden liquid.

Sapphire quickly pulled the bottle away and shoved it towards Cynric.

Cynric grabbed the bottle, "What ya think it's bad?"

"It's great," Sapphire walked over to Brynjolf and took the gems and necklace from him. "Better than Skooma. I don't want to get addicted to something I had one bottle of."

Cynric laughed. "Ah, but Bryn has the recipe! We can just get t-"

"No. Maven told us not to look." Brynjolf snapped.

"Told_ you_. Never told me or Saph." A cocky grin grew on Cynric's face.

Brynjolf sighed and then reached into his pocket. He pulled out the note and handed it over to the two eager thieves. "Don't read it out loud."

"I've got the best memory in all of Tamriel. No need for that." Cynric said folding the note up.

"Let's go." Brynjolf wanted nothing more than to get back to the Cistern and sleep under the warm pelts on his bed with the sweet taste of the mead still in his mouth.

"Wait." Sapphire hesitated. "I peaked into this room, looks like the bedroom, there looks to be a safe on the far side of the room." She stood by a door and held her hand on the knob.

"Make it quick." Brynjolf rolled his eyes and walked over to the door swinging it open.

Cynric stayed in the main room keeping watch while Sapphire and Brynjolf tried their hand at the safe's lock.

Sapphire had broken nine locks picks already and was on her last pick. "Bryn. I'm gonna need your help here." The words were like poison to Sapphire. She was an independent person and hated help, but even more, hated asking for help.

Brynjolf knelt down on the ground and pulled out a pick. After three broken picks, he finally was able to open the safe. Inside the bronze safe were four large coin purses, another paper with the recipe and a journal. Brynjolf handed the journal to Sapphire and tossed the coin purses in with the others along with the recipe.

He was about to close the safe's door when a glimmer of light caught his eye. The flash came from the far back of the safe. Brynjolf reached his hand into the safe grasping for the mysterious object. His finger tips touched something cold, most likely a bottle from the shape of it. He pulled the bottle out expecting it to be another bottle of mead with juniper berries, but to his surprise, it wasn't. The bottle was a bright royal blue and the label had a picture of a tankard of ale with flowers, similar to that of the Black-Brair's mead.

Brynjolf held the bottle into what little light was in the room. With the illumination on the bottle, he was able to read the faded label that said: Black-Briar Reverse.

Brynjolf scrunched his nose, "What in Oblivion."

Sapphire was standing over the table reading the journal. There was just enough light from the window for the words to be legible. Her finger followed every line of the page and with every word she read the more she focused.

Brynjolf sat the bottle down on the table in front of the journal. "What's in that?"

Sapphire ignored Brynjolf and snatched the bottle up. "This. This. _This_." She picked up the journal and held the bottle beside it.

Brynjolf grabbed her shoulder. "Saph. What are you going on about?"

"This is it!" She was overwhelmed with joy. "The girl. She wrote about this mead and how she was trying to make a better copy of it! Black-Briar Reverse!"

"Shhh, calm down, lass. What's in the journal exactly?" Brynjolf hushed the girl.

Sapphire calmed herself."Well, it says that she was using the mead to-"

Cynric barged into the room panic stricken. "Guys! We have to get-"

Before he could finish his words, a loud high pitched shriek came from the front door followed by a deep man's voice. "Hey guards help!"

The man ran into the house and pinned Cynric against the wall while holding a dagger to his neck.

Three guards rushed into the dark home each with a sword drawn.

"Come with us and no one has to get hurt." A male guard with a deep thick Nordic accent spoke. His dark red hair was pulled back and he had a thick beard covering his face. One eye was blinded and the same side of his face was coated in crimson war paint. He wore a set of heavy Imperial armor, and the only way to obtain that is to have a high status in the Legion.

The man pinning Cynric against the wall threw him towards the guard. "There's more in the bed room."

Brynjolf and Sapphire were in a panic to get the journal and valuables put somewhere safe so that they could leave with them but the guards came in too quickly.

"Thieves." One of the guards scoffed under her breath. Unlike the male guard that spoke, these two guards were wearing helmets and wore light armor.

The male guard took Brynjolf by his shoulder leading him to the jail while the female guard took Sapphire.

In the jail, the thieves were stripped of everything and given ragged clothes to wear while in jail.

Brynjolf was the last to be locked up. He took his precious time changing into his new attire.

The guard that took Sapphire closed the door behind Brynjolf and tossed the keys into her pocket. "It will be a while before you _thieves_ get out of here." She chuckled.

The jail cells were dingy and gave Brynjolf an eerie feel. The same stone that made up the wall, surrounded him in the cell. The walls, floors, and ceilings were all made up of mossy stone. Water leaked from the ceiling down onto the ground. To Brynjolf's convenience, the floors were slanted with the pile of hay he was supposed to sleep on at the lower end of the cell. A damp pelt lied on top of the hay stack as if it was doing any help. He sat down on the hay stack looking around the cell to see if there was anything he could use to his advantage. The hay and pelt were drenched in cool water from the rain that had passed.

Cynric's cell lied to the right of Brynjolf's. The two cells were identical with the exception of Cynric's cell not being leaky and just damp. The Brenton was lied out on the hay stack looking up at the ceiling. In his past he was a jailbreaker, he'd get himself sent to jail just to break people out, so this was nothing new to him. However, he had never gotten caught while in the guild. He quit his old lifestyle because of an incident that happened on a job, after that he promised never to do it again. And here he was, back in a jail cell.

Sapphire's cell was across the hall from Cynric's. In total, her cell was probably six feet from his and the exact same. The dingy cramped up feeling made her highly uncomfortable. She paced back and forth in her cell from the haystack to the door mumbling small things to herself. The claustrophobia and self hate was overwhelming her right now.

"Sapphire, shut up." Cynric begged from his haystack. He words were stern and he noticed. "Please." He added trying to cover up the hatefulness.

"I'm sorry." She sobbed.

Brynjolf walked over to the door of his cell to where he could see Sapphire. She was standing at the cell door clenching onto the bars with her head down. "Lass, it's fine. Trust me."

She looked up at Brynjolf. Her weak teary eyes filled with regret were like daggers into Brynjolf's heart. "It's not," she mumbled her words beneath her breath. "It's all my fault."

Brynjolf didn't know what to say. She was right, it _was _her fault. He stood in silence looking back at Sapphire. His mouth opened to speak but no words came out.

"Saph." Cynric's voice came from his cell. He spoke softly and with care. "Yeah, it's your fault, but it's alright. We will get out of here. Once the guild realizes that we are missing, they'll come down here."

Sapphire nodded her head. There was only one reason for her being this upset, Mercer. The guild had been doing poorly and Maven had about given up hope on the guild, this contract was very important and needed to be completed. Mercer had said he was willing to get rid of anyone who needed it and that this contract would be a test to see if Sapphire was as good as a thief as she had made herself out to be.

Failure in this contract not only made Sapphire look bad, but it also meant she may lose her place in the guild. She was one of the newer members and money was running real low, there was no way Mercer would kick out a thief that had been around a while.

She contemplated what to say next. "But what if,"

Cynric interrupted her sobby words. "No more ifs. Nothing is going to happen. _I won't let it_."

A soft smile grew across Sapphire's face then she mouthed the words, "Thanks, love."

Brynjolf sighed and rolled his eyes. He walked away from the door back to the haystack to turn his focus back on how to escape.

Cynric and Sapphire had started their relationship shortly after Sapphire arrived at the guild. They tried their best to hide it, but Brynjolf knew better. He had informed them that he knew once he found out, after that, the two love birds kept their guard up at all times. Other than Brynjolf, Nuruin and Delvin were the only ones to know about their consealed relationship.

Brynjolf blocked out their hushed voices and concentrated on escaping. When he was changing into the ragged clothes, he took note of the area and the guards around. Most of the guards were half asleep or chugging down some mead. He slowly lost focus of escaping and drifted away to sleep.

Metal clanking against metal repeatedly woke Brynjolf from his deep sleep.

"Prisoner." A young male guard stood at the door of his cell. The guard held his hand on a bar of the door and was shaking it with haste. "It's noon, time to eat." He held a wooden plate in his right hand. On the plate lied a slice of bread and a slice of cheese.

Brynjolf pushed himself up off the ground. His head still pounded from hitting the rocks last night. As he made his way to the door he pulled strands of straw out of his red hair. He could see in the tourture room where the guards had been the night before, but now, it was empty. Not a single guard was in there. "Where is everyone?"

The guard slid the plate between two horizontal bars on the door. "Doing their job?"

Brynjolf reached for the plate without looking and knocked it from the guards grasp. The bread and cheese that lied on the plate rolled across the stone floor.

"By the nine." The guard hissed looking down at the food.

"The _nine_? You work for the legion but you worship Talos?" Brynjolf interrogated the young guard.

"Yeah, I worship Talos. Yeah, I work for the legion. I see the irony, but no one in the legion knows." The boy brushed off the whole idea of being killed for worshiping Talos. He reached down and picked up the bread. "Well, I guess you're not gonna want these."

The guard turned his back to Brynjolf and picked up the cheese slice and the plate. His keys to the cells were dangling loosely from his pocket. Brynjolf reached his hands between the bars of the cell and snatched the keys from the boy's pocket. His light feathery finger tips went unnoticed. He threw the keys down his top so that they fell to the rope that tied around his waist.

The guard turned back to face Brynjolf unaware of any change. "Looks like I'm going to go get you some food." The boy then walked off down the hall in the opposite direction of the exit.

Brynjolf grabbed the keys from his top and unlocked his door. He slowly pushed the door open and the rusty hinges squeaked. Brynjolf shut the door behind him and snuck over to Cynric's.

"Well Bryn, I am most impressed." Cynric whispered walking over go the door.

"Just wait." Brynjolf opened the door and was already opening Sapphire's.

"And what now?" Sapphire sassed.

Brynjolf gawked at her. "_Just wait_." He lead the thieves to the torture room, where their armor had been taken from them.

Brynjolf walked over to a chest lying on the floor in a dark corner. Inside the chest was everything the thieves had on them before they looted the safe in the bedroom.

Brynjolf took the armor and threw it into a knapsack he had picked up along the way. He took his own armor and then walked over to a gated off area of the room. Brynjolf opened an iron door and walked inside. Two sets of legion armor lied on a shelf inside the gated area.

"Cynric, come here." Brynjolf said a little to under cautious with his loudness.

Cynric came into the gated area only to have the Legion armor thrown at him.

"Put it on." Brynjolf said already pulling the cuirass over his head.

After they shimmied into the armor, Brynjolf directed Cynric back out of the caged off area. "Saph, I'm gonna need you be our prisoner."

"What?" Sapphire jumped up from the chair she had rested in.

"_We_ are going to use _you_ to get _out_ of the village. There are only two sets of armor meaning someone must be used a prop. I chose you because you're the one that got us into this mess." Brynjolf spoke calmly to her.

"Fine." Sapphire said bluntly.

Brynjolf threw the knapsack over his shoulders and grabbed Sapphire's shoulder. Cynric followed Brynjolf's lead the three made their way to the exit.

Brynjolf opened the door exiting the keep and dragged Sapphire with him.

The day was bright and not a cloud sat in the sky. The suns warm rays beamed down on the thieves as they entered it's light. A soft breeze blew Sapphire's hair into her face and sealed her identity.

Brynjolf nodded to the two guards that stood on either side of the door to the keep. None of the guards around Helgen seemed to see anything that could be out of order.

The thieves made it across town and to the gate with out being discovered. Cynric opened the gate while Brynjolf grabbed both of Sapphire's shoulders and pushed her in front of him. After closing the gate behind him, Cynric came back to grab Sapphire's shoulder.

"Ah ha, is this another criminal scum being taken to a bandit camp?" The guard at the gate scoffed.

Sapphire's eyes grew wide and she began to panic and break out in a sweat. Even though she knew good and well that her well trusted friend, Brynjolf, and her lover, Cynric, weren't taking her to a bandit camp, she still worried. The painful memories clouded her mind and her knees grew weak causing her to collapse. To the guards it looked as if she was resisting, but Cynric and Brynjolf knew what was going on. All she could think of was when the bandits attacked and killed her family and abducted her only to use her as a toy for their pleasure.

Cynric stopped dead in his path. "No, no we _aren't_ taking her to a _bandit _camp." He snarled.

The guard turned red. "Oh, um, my apologies."

"My apologies my ass." Cynric dropped Sapphire's arm and walked over to the guard. "Don't you ever-"

Brynjolf dropped Sapphire completely and ran over to Cynric. He placed his hand on the raging Brenton's chest. "We are drowning her. In the river." Brynjolf's eyes were wide and he turned to Cynric, "How's about you go get the girl before she runs off?"

Cynric glared at the guard and then slowly made his way back to Sapphire.

Brynjolf patted the guard on the shoulder. "Sorry about that, bandit camps are a touchy subject for him." He grinned and then walked off over to Cynric, who was now cradling Sapphire in his arms.

After the thieves arrived down at a river, they changed into their outfit. Cynric and Sapphire shared a hug that was too long for Brynjolf's minding. Brynjolf gawked at them but never spoke a word.

* * *

"Once we arrived at the guild, Mercer let us have it even though we returned with all the gold and gems and recipes. No thief should get caught." Brynjolf sighed and rubbed his temples. "Maven was happy to hear from Sapphire about the journal but she was also, eh, rather pissed."

Danya sat in the chair with her mouth agape. "Cynric... And Sapphire? Really?"

"Is that all you got from this story, lass? Never mind the fact we got thrown in jail after discovering this huge secret." Brynjolf's anger did not cover up his sarcastic tone.

Danya shook her head.

"It's not gonna last much longer. Their relationship that is." Brynjolf stood up looking at the letter. "Cynric and I won't be here for you, so you'll just have Niruin and Rune."

Danya blankly stared at her ring. "I'll manage." She whispered.

Arcatius took in a deep breath and shifted in his bed. It was something that has been happening lately, random flinching and shuffling around in his sleep.

Even with all fidgeting, Arcatius looked so peaceful. He was at a tranquil state with no worries. However, when he woke up would be another story. The healing spells and potions only gave temporary relief from pain, and once they wore off the pain would be antagonizing.

Danya knew from her experience of being a healer for the legion that sometimes the only way to relieve a wounded persons pain is to knock them out. Not everyone woke up from being knocked out and some who did would wake up delusional or mentally ill. That's the last thing she wanted for Arcatius.

Brynjolf looked up from the paper at Arcatius's bed. He was almost at a lost of words as expressions of shock and joy struck his face. "Well, I don't even..." The words barely rolled from his mouth.

Danya looked up at Brynjolf trying to spot the locating of what he was awe struck over.

As she looked to her left, Arcatius's eyes fluttered opened in such an angelic manor. His youthful wide yellow eyes were opened once again.


	13. The Truth Comes Out

**Chapter 13**

**The Truth Comes Out**

**4E 194 Skyrim, 1st of Sun's Dusk**

Arcatius lied in the bed blankly staring at the ceiling for a moment before taking a couple of large blinks. He licked his dry lips that still tasted of bitter healing potions.

Danya placed her hand on his bedside. Arcatius slowly and cautiously turned his head to look at the source of the movement.

His mouth widened into a smile as his eyes meet Danya's. "Danya." Arcatius's voice was soft and weak and even with all the rest he had gotten, he sounded exhausted. He reached his hand out to grab hers and she did the same.

Danya tried to hold back tears of joy but did a poor job at it. "Arcatius, it's good to hear your voice again." She wrapped her other hand around his hand that she was already holding.

Arcatius glanced over at Brynjolf then back at Danya. "Um, where am I?" He whispered.

"Aye, lad. Welcome to the Ragged Flagon." Brynjolf marched over to Arcatius's bedside.

"Riften, correct?" Arcatius covered the fear he held inside.

"Correct. I'm going to get Niruin, if he's awake." Brynjolf made his way to the door and walked out shuting it quietly behind him.

Arcatius turned to Danya with wide eyes. "We have to get out of here as soon as we can." His voice changed to a more panic stricken tone.

"Why is that? Oh would it by chance be because oh I don't know, you lied to Niruin?" Danya's voice stayed calm and quiet.

"How'd you- Wait, he knows who I am?" Arcatius squoze Danya's hand firmly.

"Relax. The only reason you're alive is because of him. He talked so highly of you." Danya rubbed her thumb across his hand.

Arcatius laid his head back on to his pillow and used his free hand to run his fingers through his hair. He hadn't realized how long his hair had gotten. His fingers ran down from his hair line to his jaw line. Soft stubble growing across his jaw line and cheeks brushed up against his fingertips. "How long have I been out?"

"Six days? Oh, I'm not sure. How's your pain?" She pulled one hand away from his to rest her arm up on the chair.

Arcatius shrugged, "There's pain, but it's withstand-able." He looked over to Danya who was just nodding. "So... how bad was it? The... Wound."

Sorrow filled Danya's eyes. "Deep... Bad... It's gotten better. Do you... Do you remember?"

"Vividly." Arcatius tried to brush the rough topic off but he didn't know how. All he could think about was waking up in a field being greeted by Lia and then watching everything ten to ash. _What was that?_ The question clouded his brain from all other thoughts. "Danya,"

"Hmm?" She looked into Arcatius eyes and saw the struggle to resist something. "What's wrong?"

Arcatius bit his lower lip trying to find the words to say. "I... I died." He looked up at Danya who was giving him an odd stare. "I should explain. I woke up, but not here. No, I was in a forest in Valenwood." His words were sloppy and shaky. "All my wounds were gone. All of them. No scars, scratches, or dagger wounds. And when I woke up and girl was walking towards me. It was Lia. It wasn't a dream though. I could feel everything as if it were real. But after a short time, Lia left and stood by the trees. My wounds came back and so did the pain. Then everything... Everything just collapsed into ashes. Even Lia."

Danya ran her hand through Arcatius's rough ear length hair. "You said something about Y'free before you went."

Arcatius grabbed his necklace that still hung around his neck. "Yeah." He looked up at Danya who was staring back at him. "Where's our stuff?"

Danya raised her eyebrows. "Our stuff? It's at the camp."

"Wait, everything?" Arcatius grew concerned.

"Everything." Danya confirmed.

"No, Danya I have to have that book." He squoze Danya's hand tightly.

Danya focused on something across the room then smirked and looked back down at the boy. "I'll make you a deal, tomorrow there will only be two people here I can trust, you have to cope with them. Deal?"

Arcatius shrugged his shoulders. "Simple enough. Deal."

"Brilliant. Let's see, these two people are Rune and Niruin." Danya cheered.

The boy sighed and threw his head back rolling his eyes. "Fine." He sighed.

"Oh you will be fine, don't worry." Danya comforted.

"If only you knew." Arcatius turned to his side and winced in pain from the pressure it put on his lower abdomen.

"What do you mean by that?" Danya questioned.

"You don't know the real-" Arcatius hushed himself as he heard the quiet sound of bare feet tapping on the stone floor coming in their direction. "_But no, _other than the little pain in my lower abdomen I feel fine." Arcatius changed the subject quickly.

The cracked open door swung open revealing Niruin to be the one walking down the hall. "Arcatius! You're awake!" He wore a thin dirty white shirt with tattered long brown pants.

"That I am." He sighed.

"Oh what a joy it is to see you awake again!" Niruin cheered.

Danya listened as his words sounded fake and almost rehearsed, but she said nothing.

"Yeah, I haven't seen you since you left us back in Valenwood." Arcatius rolled his eyes.

"You were invited to come with me. You and Lia both. But you declined and convinced her to stay in Valenwood with you!" Niruin snapped.

Arcatius rubbed his eyes. "We were so young. It wasn't safe." He spoke calmly.

"I was the best sneak in our town! And you and Lia were the little archers! It would of been fine! I got over here with almost no worries!" Nuruin argued back.

"_Almost_." Arcatius sighed heavily. "Have you even told Danya _why_ you're here?"

Niruin shyly scratched the back of his head. "Um no, I don't believe that I have."

"Then why don't you tell her now?" Arcatius held his hand out in the direction of an empty chair.

Niruin sat down in the chair turned towards Danya. "Back in Valenwood I worked at a winery, my father's winery. I had been there my whole life just chilling wine and squishing the grapes. We sold our wine thought all of Valenwood and even parts of Cyrodil and the Summerset Isles." He spoke timidly and his sentences where choppy. "We were the wealthiest people in town for sure, but that life bored me. Doing the same thing everyday. I mean yeah sure, I was an excellent hunter and had tons of friends and even engaged to a fine young woman. But there was something missing from me, from my life. One day when I was hunting, I ran into a small group of thieves who called themselves the Silver Crescents. They offered for me to join after talking to them for a short time and I jumped on the offer. I would tell my father I was going on hunting trips or I was delivering some wine when really I was with the Silver Crescents. Then the day came when Arcatius discovered my little hobby. He threatened to tell father but we made an agreement instead. I wouldn't tell when he and Lia went off together if he wouldn't tell when I went _off_."

Arcatius sat back listening to his every word waiting for him to say something wrong.

"It worked well, until one day. Lia said something, ah who knows what she said, but it irked me so much so that I went and told Arcatius's dad about how he had been meeting Lia and ditching me when were supposed to be hunting. Then Lia got mad and told father why exactly she was meeting him out there, that reason was because he would of been alone if _she_ weren't there. So I snitched then Lia snitched and _I_ was the one who got in trouble. Apparently thieving doesn't look good for a company. Father told me I could either leave Valenwood all together or he'd throw me in jail. So I said my goodbyes to everyone and then made my way here." Niruin let out a long sigh, "_Happy_?" He asked Arcatius.

"I guess so. You seem to have left out one small part." Arcatius pushed himself up so that he was sitting up. "How'd I catch you?"

"You saw me stealing." Niruin said in a cocky tone.

"Oh wow, you don't say?" Arcatius said in a highly sarcastic way. "I'll tell her for you instead."

Niruin crossed his arms. "Fine. Go ahead." His fingers clinched on to his arms and his finger nails dug into his bare skin.

Arcatius smirked. "I was at home after a long day of hunting and it was late at night. The wind was really strong, outside I could see leaves tearing off of the trees and being carried through the sky. Our house was creaking and the window panes were violently shaking. Needless to say, when I heard the floorboards cracking I thought nothing of it. It wasn't until I heard the sound of drawers opening and closing that I got concerned. So naturally I got up to see who it was. Niruin had brought two of his thieves into my house and they were frantically searching the place. One of the thieves saw me and drew his dagger while walking over to me and the other ran out immediately. The thief that had run over to me said something about papers to the Thalmor Embassy and when I didn't tell him anything he ran his dagger down my arm. Then came Niruin from the shadows of another room. He walked over pushing the other thief away from me and proceeded to explain himself. I said something about his father being okay with it and he offered the idea of I don't tell anyone about his thieving and he wouldn't tell anyone about Lia and me. Fair deal. Until he broke it." Arcatius touched his forearm where a faint a white scar ran down.

Danya said nothing and just nodded in response. She eyed the scar on his arm that had to be more than just a quick little flick of a dagger.

"You've changed a lot." Niruin was quick to change the subject.

"Yeah, decided to cut my hair when I left." Arcatius laughed.

"Well, _that_ and you've changed in a way I can't describe." Niruin chuckled with Arcatius.

Arcatius shrugged. "Things have been different."

"How was it when I left?" The question had been heavy in Niruin's mind since he left Valenwood.

"Exactly like I told you it would be." Arcatius said with remorse.

"And how's that?" Niruin smirked.

Arcatius looked up from his hands glaring at Niruin. "You ruined your family making my family worse than it was to begin with. The whole town soon found out about your thieves and that started feuds that lead to fights that lead to people hating people for no reason."

"And Lia?" Niruin's tone changed to a sadder one.

"She was," Arcatius paused. "She was lost."

"Did she come over to your place often or did she stay home?" Niruin looked at Lia's necklace hanging around Arcatius's neck.

"She came over to my place, when he'd let her. Otherwise I had to go over there. She was never the same with him." Tears clouded Arcatius's eyes but he wiped them before they could roll down his cheeks.

"She loved you." Niruin looked at Arcatius with heavy eyes. "More than anyone."

Silence fell in the room like fog on a humid morning secluding everyone from each other. The three were lost in thought and had forgotten about the others even being in the room until Niruin broke the silence.

"It killed her when you left. She stayed at our parents crying for the first two months. Then she stayed in the woods hunting. I'm the only one she would talk to." Niruin looked up glossy eyed at Arcatius.

"It killed me too. Surrounded by so many people yet feeling so alone." Every word Arcatius spoke hurt him.

Danya had sat in silence letting the confusion overwhelm her. "What are you talking about?"

Arcatius kept his head down but looked at Niruin and sighed.

"You haven't told her?" Niruin sounded almost in disgusts.

"No. I haven't. Not the whole story at least." Arcatius's sorrow filled eyes meet those of Danya's. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you this earlier. I was going to tell you while we were traveling, but then..." He didn't have to finish his sentence.

Danya kept her gaze on Arcatius. "It's alright."

"I guess I will start with the first lie I told you. I'm not seventeen." Arcatius interlocked his fingers together and twirled his thumbs around each other in anxiety.

Niruin laughed. "Oh gods. You lied about your age?"

Arcatius shot Niruin a dagger stabbing glare. "I'm actually in my forties. Like forty six or something by now. But it's about the same age." He looked around the room noticed the strange looks. "Oh I'm an Altmer, I'll live to be like at least a thousand."

Danya nodded her head. "So you and Lia were closer than I thought."

"That's the other thing." Arcatius sighed.

"Okay what _did_ you tell her?" Niruin spoke up.

"I could do with out your commentary, Niruin." Arcatius directed his attention towards Danya again. "Lia and I fell in love at a very young age, and stayed in love. But as I told you before, our parents despised is being together, so when she was old enough they forced her into a marriage with Erasmo. He was a rich handsome man, but he cared nothing of her."

"He was a jerk." Niruin scoffed.

Arcatius nodded his head. "Erasmo treated her terribly but her parents didn't care as long as she wasn't with me. Lia got to the point where she'd only talk to me and Niruin."

"So you were having an affair?" Danya was hesitant to ask.

"Um, yes." Arcatius voice turned shy. "To our luck, Erasmo seemed to go on trips often so that's when we spent most of our time together."

"He would beat her because she spent time with Arcatius." Niruin's somber voice echoed through the room.

Arcatius ran his hand up his arm clinching it tightly. He pulled his bottom lip under his teeth and took a deep breath in. "Then there is the last thing I have yet to tell you." His voice turned shaky. "I know I've told you about my parents working for the Aldmeri Dominion."

Danya slowly nodded her head and kept a worried look on her face.

"My parents forced me to join the Dominion. Around the time Lia's parents forced her into marriage, the Dominion told me they'd be sending me to Cyrodiil to be a Thalmor leader at a city there. I had my guesses that my father planned this, since he is so high up in the Dominion, so that I'd be away from Lia." Arcatius paused to clear his throat. "My father _had _planned it, and he planned it well. To his advantage, the Embassy picked me up the night before Lia's wedding."

"It was probably best that you weren't there." Niruin whispered. He looked up at Arcatius who was nodding his head in agreement. "She was miserable and I was the only one not cheering."

"I was just nineteen at the time." Arcatius's voice was quiet and somber. "I didn't arrive back in Valenwood until I was thirty four. Fifteen years of being forced against my will to arrest people for believing differently than myself." Arcatius briefly paused and then looked up at Danya with a sly smirk growing on his lips. "And I wasn't even supposed to return home then."

"Did you leave?" Danya turned her eyebrows upwards.

"Hah, no. No, not at all. No instead I made a contract. A contract with the Dark Brotherhood that is. I hired an assassin to kill another Thalmor leader." Arcatius's voice turned grim.

"And they caught you then?" Danya reluctantly asked.

"No. The Dominion held a meeting for all of the leaders in Cyrodiil in the Imperial City. Quite a few important people were there. We dined and drank Lia and Niruin's family wine." Arcatius looked up at Niruin who was impatiently and nervously tapping his foot. "I think it was the wine that set me off. I had not forgotten of Lia but I had come to terms that I would one day see her again and it was almost as if they were rubbing it in my face that Lia's family made that wine. So, for a majority of time I sat back in a corner and just watched everything unravel. The news of the Dark Brotherhood being sent to kill a leader spread like wildfire throughout the other Thalmor justiciars and leaders. Rumor spread that another leader hired the assassin causing other Thalmor's to turn on each other and accuse people." Arcatius laughed. "It was fun while it lasted but then someone accused me. So I did what I had planned. When I was accused the room feel silent. Everyone knew it had to be me. I got up from my chair in the corner and proceeded to make my way to the center of the room. Everyon circled around me whispering just about everything you could imagine and giving me all kinds of looks as I went on to explain myself. I spoke my opinion about how I so strongly disagree with the Thalmor and what they do. I did that, in front of all the important leaders from various locations in all of Tamriel."

"What did you say?" Danya's wide crimson eyes narrowed and her plump lips wrinkled together.

Arcatius's smile died down. "Oh I just said something like 'You kill people for worshiping differently than you in the most disgusting manor'." His eyes grew wider and he looked off in to the distance and began to mumble. "And I might of said something about letting Talos worshipers flee so they won't get caught." He looked back at Danya with his eyebrows turned up and a shy grin. "And I might of said something about killing other leaders my self next time they took an innocent man's life."

Danya gasped. "Arcatius! How are you still alive?" Her mouth stayed agape.

Arcatius shyly laughed and he scratched the back of his head. "Yeah that's the other thing. I'm not supposed to be alive right now. Um, I guess I should tell you what happened." As he told the story, the words burnt his lips and the vivid memories stained his mind.

* * *

Arcatius woke up in pain. He was lying on splintery wood and the warm sun's rays beamed down on his bare back. His eyes meet those of an Altmer dressed in hooded Thalmor robes. Arcatius's eyes searched around the wooden cart he was lying in.

"Oh, _good_ you woke up." The haughty man's voice caught Arcatius off guard.

Arcatius tried to push himself up to a sitting position but his hands were tied together.

"You seem to be having some problems there." The Altmer's spine chilling laugh made Arcatius furious and determined.

Arcatius looked over at the Altmer's scarred face. A large gash ran down across his face from his eyebrow, across the bridge of his nose, and to his bony cheek. It was the same man who had beat him senseless last night with a variety of techniques. The Altmer had tried every way to torture Arcatius, from whipping to being beaten with maces to having his arms pulled in either direction so that both arms popped out of socket. Arcatius had experienced a new kind of pain but he showed no weakness and kept strong. Now he was lying in the same cart as the monster.

Arcatius looked down at his blood stained pants. The tattered tan pants were his only protection last night from the maces and they did little good. He shot a dagger stabbing glare at the Thalmor sitting in the cart with him and then pushed himself up.

Pain laced down his arms and abdomen as he pulled his body up to a sitting position. He gasped heavily not realizing how sore he was. His chest, arms, and back were covered in dried blood. Large open gashes from maces covered his chest, abdomen, and, back. The skin around the gashes were bruised purple and several of Arcatius's ribs had to be broken. Tender risen red lines crossing over his spine lacing his back. Three large blue bruises with deep gashes caked in blood covered his back shoulders and lower back.

"Well aren't you a ray of sunshine." A haughty accent came out in Arcatius's raging voice. He lifted his head up into the sun's light revealing a black eye, swollen lips, and a bleeding cut running across his lips.

"Oh cheer up why don't you? We _are _taking you to your village after all." A sly grin grew across the Thalmor's lips and he eerily laughed at Arcatius.

"Don't you lay a finger on anyone there." Arcatius's voice was stern and intimidating but it didn't phase the Thalmor man.

"No need to worry!" The man laughed. "We only plan on executing you there, then the villagers can decide what to do with that dingy head of yours that will be rolling in the dirt." The Thalmor stood up and took a step towards Arcatius. He placed his cold wrinkled hands on Arcatius's swollen shoulders and knelt down to see eye to eye with his prisoner. "As as for that girl of yours, Lia? We shall see what happens to her when we get there." His eyes narrowed and his lips curved into a grim smile. The Thalmor's breath smelled like the wine from Lia's family, almost as if he was taunting Arcatius.

"No." Arcatius jumped up from his bench but he was quickly yanked back down. A leather belt was tied around his waist with chains attached restraining him to only being able to lie down and sit up right.

"Oh look at you. You've found the restriction chains!" The man stood up lingering over Arcatius. He lifted his hand up to his lips. A green wine bottle sat in his hands pressed up to his lips with Lia's family wine logo on it. "If this girls love is as good as her wine, then I see why you're so into her." The Thalmor laughed and then turned his back to Arcatius to pull something out of his knapsack.

Arcatius took this opportunity to his advantage. He swiftly raised his bare foot up and kicked the guard with such power that he almost fell over the edge of the wagon.

Once he regained balance, the man sharply turned around gawking at Arcatius. His wrinkly hand grabbed the hair on the top of Arcatius's head and yanked his head upwards so that Arcatius would look him in the eyes. "And for that little stunt I think I will have the honor off ripping your head off and I will find out my self how sweet this girls love really is."

Arcatius kept a constant crooked smile on his face. "That is _if_ you can get past her husband."

The man curled his top lip upwards and threw Arcatius's head back. He walked back to his bench with his nose turned up.

Arcatius looked around at the environment he was in. He could tell from the few land marks that he was probably ten minutes away by carriage from his village. Light gray fluffy clouds covered the sky and a heavy layer of fog covered the dirt ground.

Arcatius wondered what his friends and family would think when they saw him arriving at the town by carriage, being drug by two Thalmor soldiers guided by two Thalmor wizards and one Thalmor leader, and then being executed in front of the whole village. Executed in front of his parents, children he had taught how to hunt and are now grown, long time friends, and the worst, Lia. He knew Lia's husband would be basking in glory over his death while Lia would be heartbroken.

Arcatius noticed his eyes begin to water and shook off the whole idea. He looked up in front of the carriage at the road that lied before them. Through all the shrubs, trees, and fog Arcatius could see his village. The large nicely built houses made of wood planks was a rare sight in Valenwood but Arcatius had the luxury of growing up in a village full of them. Smoke arose from chimneys and scattered through the leaves of the towering trees above. A wide dirt road going through the center of Arcatius's village intersected the narrow path that lead from village to village. Large wood plank homes and businesses with big inviting porches lined the wide dirt path. At the end of the road was a clearing, a large grass field was a rarity for Valenwood but it was rich in animals to hunt.

A large two story home sat next to the clearing at the end of the road. A sign that said 'Winery' hung on a iron pole outside the home. It's where Lia grew up, sending her days with Arcatius on the stairs to the porch.

Next to the winery was another large two story home with a great porch and a balcony on the second floor. Thalmor flags hung on either side of the front door to the home. That was the home Arcatius grew up in. That was the balcony where he and Lia would escape to at night to get away from all the madness while still staying in the village.

Down towards the beginning of the wide dirt path lied yet another home of significance. It lied on the opposite side of the road as Arcarius's home and the Winery and was only one story. While it was still a nice home, it looked like it needed a little more care than the others. The porch wasn't as large as some of the others and only had a table with two chairs and a lantern sitting on the ground. The other porches had tables with chairs gathered around and decorative benches and objects. This smaller home was Lia's new home. It's where she was forced to go every night since her marriage.

The largest building in the village was the inn. It was three stories tall and each floor had a porch. On the bottom porch of the inn were dinner tables with bowls and tankards placed in an orderly manor on top of the well kept tables. Candle lit chandeliers hung from the ceilings of the porches above the tables and benches that sat on the second and third story porches.

The carriage came to a halt and the Thalmor riding up front jumped down from their sets and made their way to the back with haste. Two Thalmor soldiers released Arcatius from the chains and pulled him up to a standing position by his sore aching arms. The soldiers cut the bindings from his hands and then climbed off the back of the cart motioning for Arcatius to follow.

Arcatius jumped of the cart sending pains up his legs and into his spine. His knees grew weak and he collapsed leaving the soldiers no choice but to drag him to the center of the village. He held his head down hoping no one would recognize him but it was only a matter of time before families rushed out of their homes to see what was going on.

Whispers of his name passed along the large crowd growing around the dirt path. Occasional shouts of "Arcatius?" piped up amungst the people.

The Thalmor soldiers guiding the way came to a stop at the center of the town. Arcatius gazed around. He was surrounded by people whispering things to each other and then occasionally shouting remarks towards him or the Thalmor. People lined the porches of the inn that conveniently overlooked the center of the circle that formed around Arcatius. Mothers were holding their young children, teenage boys that had learned their hunting skills from Arcatius pushed their way to the front of the crowd, confused kids were pulling on their mothers skirts asking questions but they would just be commanded to go inside, and the occasional store clerk or worker would make remarks about their disappointment in Arcatius.

The soldiers holding Arcatius's arms pulled him up so that he was standing in front of the crowd. Arcatius's body, once covered by shadows, was now illuminated by the light creeping between the trees and clouds.

Gasps flew around the crowd as they saw his wounds. The large mace wounds had cracked open again and fresh blood oozed from them. Shouts from the crowd derived the Thalmor from their glory.

The Thalmor man that had talked so poorly to Arcatius seemed to lead the execution. He walked over behind Arcatius and grabbed the hair on the back of his head and yanked his head back so that Arcatius wasn't concealing his face anymore.

Arcatius squinted his eyes shut as pain needled down his neck and spine and then slowly spread across his back and around to his chest. As he weakly opened his eyes the world spun before him but a mother and father caught his eye. He blinked several times regaining vision and focused on the family. The mother had tears running down her cheeks and she was sobbing into her husband's chest. They were two Bosmers both dressed in dirty chef tunics but the Bosmers looked well kept. Arcatius took a closer look at the couple and was able finally make out who they were. Lia's parents. It pained Arcatius knowing that they would be there front row to watch him die, but what hurt him more was knowing that Lia's parents cared more than his own parents about his death. The thought clouded his mind, _Did they really not care enough to at least say goodbye to me? No, of course they did! They just did't know. _Arcaius tried to comfort himself.

"Ah, look at the crowd we have." The Thalmor leader shouted above the noise.

"Um, Malasis." One of the Thalmor soldiers released Arcatius's and started to make his way towards the Thalmor leader.

"Not now," the Thalmor now known as Malasis firmly placed his hand on the soldier's shoulder. "I'd just _hate_ to keep the crowd waiting." He spoke in a low voice so that only the Thalmor could hear and then he turned back to face the crowd.

A gap opened in the gathering just wide enough for a small person to ease through. A beautiful Bosmer woman ran down the gap pushing and shoving people out of her way. "Arcatius!" She shrieked while running. Her long brown silky hair bounced behind her with every graceful step she took. She was dressed in a nicely kept set of tavern clothes.

"Lia!" Arcatius shouted while pulling lose from the grip of the Thalmor soldier. The soldier tried to run after Arcatius and restrain him but he was abruptly stopped by Malais's hand on his chest.

He ran over to Lia and put his cold blood stained hands on her soft rosy warm cheeks. Lia's warm hands grasped his cool neck and they pulled each other together for a long kiss. Arcatius's scarred and swollen lips melted when they interlocked with Lia's plump, warm, and soft lips.

Lia pulled herself away from the kiss and her hands slid from Arcatius's neck down to his chest. She quietly wept as a single tear streamed down from her bloodshot eyes. "Word got out that you would be brought here to be executed."

"Shh, everything is going to be fine." Arcatius whispered to Lia as he ran his thumb across her cheek wiping her tear. His comforting words were a lie. Lia and Arcatius both knew he wouldn't be fine.

Lia looked up at him with tears clouding her eyes and just slowly shook her head as she buried her face into the palms of her hands.

Arcatius pulled Lia into a long overdue warm embrace. Lia's arms wrapped around Arcatius's bare back gently sliding over his wounds. His hand held her waist tightly while the other hand held her head to his chest.

Arcatius's rested his head against Lia's as his eyes watered and his nose turned a rose shade of red. His breathing was heavy, and all he could think of was this being the last time he got to hold Lia. "I love you." He barely whispered to Lia over his large breaths.

Lia took a step back with tears streaming down her face and brushed Arcatius's tangled hair back behind his ear. "I love you, too." She was barely able to speak the words over her weeps.

Lia and Arcatius shared one last passionate kiss before the two soldiers each grabbed one of them and pulled them off in their own direction.

"Welcome noble citizens." Malasis's voice was loud and haughty and silenced the large crowd. "I'm sure you've all meet your _dear_ friend Arcatius, but I doubt you know why we, the _Aldmeri Dominion_, have brought him back here today."

Mummers arose from the crowd but they hushed by Malasis's booming voice. "Arcatius is to be... Executed." He grimly laughed as mummers from the crowd filled the heavy air. "As you may know good and well, Arcatius was named a Thalmor leader, a high and honorary title. With this new noble title, he was sent to Cyrodiil to lead a rather large city there. While on duty there he let several guilty people escape. And he helped these guilty people flee their town when they should of been turned in and executed." Malasis let his crowd react to his statements. "Now! To top it off!" He shouted regaining the crowds attention. "Arcatius had made a contract with none other than the Dark Brotherhood. He was hiring them to assassinate a fellow Thalmor leader."

The crowd's volume rose as the people talked amungst themselves about the new news.

"He wrongly accused people!" Arcatius shouted as loud as his beaten lungs would let him. "He falsely accused innocent men to have them executed for the pure joy of it. These men has families, wives, children." Arcatius had won his case over. He knew the people of his town better than anyone and he knew what would get to them. Letting the crowd know that these innocent men had families seemed to stir them up.

Malasis sharply turned around and slapped Arcatius across the cheek. "You talk again and I will kill not only you but Lia." His narrow eyes dug into Arcatius's brain scaring him deeply but he showed no fear, instead he just smirked and nodded his head.

"He went against our rules on multiple occasions!" Malasis drew the crowds attention back to him. "At the party we help in the Imperial City, he admitted that it was him who contacted the Brotherhood and that he had indeed let people flee their cities. Then, he stated that if he had the time, he would of killed more leaders himself."

The crowd was filled with mixed reactions. Some people were yelling at Malasis in aggression while others were yelling at Malasis telling him to get on with it.

"Good citizens!" Malasis yelled drawing their attention back to him. He paced back in forth in front of Arcatius and the soldiers. "It's clearly stated in our rules that you can not let a guilty man go free. It's also clearly stated that you must not help that man flee." Malasis walked over to Arcatius and motioned for the Thalmor soldier that was by Lia to come over. "The rules clearly state that if you break them, you must be executed." Malasis stood close Arcatius and put his face right in front of Arcatius's. "So Arcatius, how is it you wish to die?" He spoke quietly with a smirk but just loud enough for the crowd to hear.

"I don't give a damn. " Arcatius said through his teeth in a crude manor.

Malasis's crooked smile widened and his eyebrows jumped up. "Then I will decide for you." He whispered back. "Arcatius will be beheaded!" His delighted and haughty voice echoed through the village and was soon followed by cheers and shouts of anger.

Arcatius gave Malasis one last gawk before turning to Lia. She stared back at him with glassy eyes and tears rolling down her cheeks. Erasmo had one hand wrapped around her back holding her shoulder and the other hand in a fist above his head. He was taking part in the shouts of glory for the Dominion.

Arcatius mouthed the words, "I love you." to Lia. She mouthed the words back to him then buried her face into her palms, shaking from crying so hard.

Arcatius then looked across the crowd to Lia's parents. They stood still as they watched their daughter's love face death. Arcatius nodded his head to them and they nodded back with glossy eyes. The crowd of people around them had their hands in the air and were shouting and praising the Thalmor.

Malasis had been shouting himself trying to hype up the crowd. "Let's get on with it shall we?" His question was quickly answered with cheers from the audience.

Malasis nodded to the soldiers and they swiftly kicked Arcatius's knees forcing him to collapse. His knees slowly sunk into the muddy soil. The solider holding Arcatius's right arm pulled a long piece of cloth from his pockets and then proceeded to tie Arcatius's hands together behind his back. Malasis yelled for someone to come to the center of the gathering.

The crowd of people grew silent with the exception of a few gasps from mothers and children. People gathered together and a wide gap soon formed. A large black silhouette stood at the end of the gap. The figure swung a large headsman ax over his shoulder and then slowly proceeded through the clearing. He stood behind Arcatius with his bloodstained ax resting on his shoulder and let out an austere laugh.

He was a Redguard man with dark black skin covered in puffy scars. Two solid lines of white war paint stained his cheeks below his brown eyes. His hair was shaved into a mohawk, and what hair he did have was in thick dreads.

The Redguard's lips curled into a smile exposing his yellow teeth. "Lets get this over with, boy." He hit the back of Arcatius's limp head making his head fall down facing the ground.

Arcatius gritted his teeth together and squinted his eyes. Death was just a breath of air away from him.

The crowds mixed emotions filled the air. Screams, shouts, crys, and pleas clouded any outside thoughts that filled anyone's head. Malasis turned his head around sharply and over the crowd aware of some sound he heard. He narrowed his eyes and shook off any disturbances.

The Redguard headsman firmly gripped the handle of the ax with both hands. He swung the ax up above his head and waited for a nod from Malasis and then nodded back.

The Redguard took in a deep breath and then swiftly started to swing the ax. The ax fell from his burly hands on to Arcatius's shoulder and tore the skin open. An Elven arrow pierced the Redguard's upper bicep and he moaned in pain and agony.

Arcatius gasped as the blade ripped the skin of his shoulder. He looked over to the Redguard who was now furious.

The crowd was in shambles. The people who were basking in glory where now screaming and shouting. The people who were screaming and shouting were now basking in glory. The few people who were in tears were now in a state of confusion.

A Bosmer man pushed his way through the crowd of people with a hunting bow in one hand and a quiver of Elven arrows on his back. The man wore a strange clean set of leather armor. He gawked at Malasis, "I think we know good and well you heard him." He popped back the hood that was covering his face.

"Niruin?" Arcatius looked up from the ground at the Bosmer.

"Yeah, looks like I came back at a good time, huh?" Niruin said with a cocky attitude. He walked over to the Redguard with haste and ripped the arrow from his arm and sheathed it back into his quiver. He threw his bow over his shoulder and then picked up the ax throwing it to the headsman's feet.

Niruin pulled his dagger out and cut the ties on Arcatius and then pulled him up by his under arm. With the flick of a finger, Niruin motioned Lia over.

Lia ran over to the two men, her brother and her lover, and wrapped her arms around them. Arcatius pulled her close to him and rubbed her back. She rested her wet cheeks on his chest smearing blood over her clean face.

"What in Oblivion?" Malasis yelled after the crowd settled down.

Niruin stepped away from Lia and Arcatius and pointed his finger at Malasis. "You heard him yelling at you!"

The Redguard had regained his strength again and was walking over to Niruin. He threw his large fist at Niruin's face but Niruin caught his fist and hit the Redguard in his gut. The Redguard crouched over and Niruin delivered the final blow, socking him in the eye. The headsman was bent over in pain and was struggling to get away but Niruin was quick to kick him over to the ground.

A tall aged Altmer wearing hooded Thalmor robes walked out from the gap that Niruin had made. His skin was beginning to wrinkle and his light brown hair was graying. A long light brown beard was highlighted with streaks of gray. "So Malasis, you try to kill me and now you try to kill my son." The Altmer spoke with a strongly haughty accent. "Arcatius, come over here." He waved his hand for Arcatius.

Arcatius handed Lia over to Niruin and slowly walked over to his father. His slowness was brought on by pain and being cautious. It was his father that had sent him to Cyrodiil, why did he care if he died or not? Arcatius made sure not to make eye contact with Malasis, instead he kept his sight towards the ground.

Arcatius's father wrapped his arm around his son's shoulder. Arcatius did not return the welcome and just gave his father a confused look. His father was half a head taller than Arcatius. Their eyes were identical and they both seemed to favor thick long hair but Arcatius's light golden hair stood out next to his father's brown hair.

"Like father like son might I say, Lirtus?" Malasis snickered.

"And you haven't changed a bit." Arcatius's father, Lirtus, looked down at his beaten son. "And I'm assuming that Malasis did this to you?"

Arcatius nodded his head, "Yeah." He spoke in a raspy whisper.

"Oh and how it was a joy, Lirtus. Crushed him just like I did you. Except, he seems a bit.. Tougher than you were." Malasis scoffed.

Lia bit her lip. Anger crossed her face and boiled in her veins. She tried to run over to the group of Altmer but she was restricted by her brother, Niruin.

Lirtus looked around at the crowd filled with people confused, angry, and joyous. "How about we take this inside my home? Everyone else, you can get back to what you were doing before you were _so rudely_ interrupted." Lirtus smiled masking his frustration.

The crowd quickly scattered. Lia's husband was pushing through the crowd to get back to his home where he would sit on his but and make rude comments to his wife. Niruin was reunited with his family. He gave his father a warm hug around his neck and gave his mother a sweet kiss on the cheek.

Lia stood glossy eyes keeping her gaze on Arcatius. Lirtus pulled his son away from the clearing towards their home. Arcatius turned his head over his shoulder and looked at Lia. As soon as their eyes meet, Lia made a dash to him. Niruin caught on to her wrist and pulled her back and shook his head.

Niruin waited until their parents were looking the other way. "You'll see Arcatius tonight. I'll make sure of it." He whispered his promise to Lia.

Arcatius walked behind his father through the dissembling crowd.

A teenage Bosmer boy caught Arcatius's eye. He was standing still looking at Arcatius wide eyed. The boy had a bow thrown over his shoulder and a quiver with several iron arrows in it. Arcatius remembered teaching him how to hunt when he was young. He was one of the best students Arcatius had.

Arcatius smiled and put his hand on the boy's head shaking his hair. The Bosmer giggled back to him.

"Why don't you get to hunting?" Arcatius smiled and pointed to the forest.

"Already done! Just sold six pelts." The Bosmer smiled with enthusiasm.

Arcatius gave the boy a thumbs up as he was walking off. "I'm proud."

Inside the home, the three men sat around a large circular dinning table filled with a variety of fresh foods. Arcatius sat by his father and Malasis sat across from Lirtus.

A woman that looked the same age as Lirtus came over to the table and sat down beside Arcatius. She kissed Arcatius on his forehead and placed her hands on top of his. Her golden hair was braided on either side of her head and then pulled back and tied together. Her face shape was almost identical to Arcatius's and they shared the same lips.

"Ah, Amelia. Still as lovely as ever I see." Malasis smirked.

Lirtus kicked Malasis's shin under the table.

After a few silent moments and small conversations passed Malasis brought up an interesting subject. "So, your son that we sent to High Rock. How's he doing?" He plucked pieces of bread off of a loaf in front of him and chewed on them. An eerie grin covered his face.

"Gerrik is fine, thank you." Lirtus gawked at Malasis.

"Really. Is that so?" Malasis leaned over the table and whispered. "Are you sure of that?"

Lirtus jumped up kicking his chair behind him. "What have you done to my son?" He shouted.

Malasis excused himself from the table and walked over into the living area. "Oh _I_ didn't do a thing to... Gerry?"

"Gerrik." Lirtus spat through his teeth. He marched over to Malasis. "Where is my boy?" Amelia ran over to her husband and placed her hands on his shoulders.

Malasis shrugged his shoulders. "Well, who'd he pray to?" He snickered.

Lirtus pulled a hot rod of iron from the fireplace and held it up to Malasis's face. "Where's my son?" He emphasized ever word.

"Hah, you're still the same after all these years aren't you?" Malasis held his hand beneath the iron rod and casted a frost spell on the steaming rod and then grasped the cool iron.

Lirtus pulled the rod from his grasp and threw it back into the fire. "Just tell me what happened to Gerrik."

Malasis gently placed his hand on top of Lirtus's shoulder. He looked into Lirtus's eyes then to Amelia and Arcatius.

Lirtus sighed and nodded his head. "Amelia, my dear, why don't you tend Arcatius's wounds?" He turned around facing his family.

Amelia nodded her head and waved her hand for Arcatius. Arcatius pushed his chair back from the table and marched upstairs with haste and Amelia slowly followed behind.

Arcatius had already changed into a pair of royal blue pants by the time his mother came into his bedroom. He opened his wardrobe and pulled a white tee from a shelf that was dusty from not being worn for years.

"Arcatius," Amelia whispered. She walked over to Arcatius and put her hand on his shoulder. His mother was half a head shorter than him.

"I'll be fine, mother. I will go to the lake tomorrow and wash up." He turned around looking down at his mother. "Goodnight." He hugged his mother tightly and then made his way to his bed blowing candles out on his way.

The room turned pitch black. Echoes from the downstairs traveled into the bedroom. Arcatius ignored them and slid under the warm cloth covers of his bed.

"No. I wanted to talk about something." Amelia sat down on his bed side and casted a mage light spell on to the ceiling of the room. The blue light illuminated the whole room casting shadows of all sorts across the room. "I wanted to talk about Lia."

Arcatius's mother's voice echoed in his head. "What?" His voice was weak and barely audible.

"The reason your father sent you off was to keep you from having an affair with her and now that you're back..." Her voice trailed off.

"He doesn't care for her." Arcatius scoffed speaking scornfully towrads Erasmo.

"I know." Amelia spoke softly. "There is a reason our families don't want you two together."

The room fell silent. "Well?" Arcatius awaited a response.

"It's a dishonor." She sighed. "Not for some petty reason, but for a... More serious one." Amelia paused.

She opened her mouth to speak but before she could say a word a loud haughty scream came from downstairs. Amelia shook her head and made her way to the door. She turned the door knob but stopped in her track to turn around with her back pressed up against the door.

"I want you to go to Lia's. Follow me downstairs and go out the back door." Her voice was filled with panic.

Arcatius jumped out of bed and followed his mother downstairs. When the two arrived downstairs, they paused.

Lirtus was holding Malasis by the collar of his robes above him and against a column. Amelia rushed over to her husband and grabbed him by the back of his collar pulling him away from Malasis.

Malasis hit the floor and stumbled to get up. Once he got up, he sprinted to the front door. Before he could take three steps, Lirtus had cast a paralysis spell on him.

A green fog surrounded Malasis's paralyzed body. Lirtus walked over to him and threw the limp body over his shoulder.

"I'm going to go take him to his carriage." Lirtus said scornfully. He marched over to the front door mumbling rude remarks to Malasis.

Amelia turned around to talk to Arcatius who had stayed at the foot of the stairs watching the whole thing unravel, but when she looked he was slamming the back door behind him.

* * *

Arcatius sat in the room with Danya and Niruin blankly staring at the wall across from him.

"Um, basically what happened then was Arcatius came over to our house and spent the night there." Niruin finished the story for Arcatius after noticing his absence of words. "I made the poor decision to leave after spending just five days in Valenwood."

Danya spoke up after a long silence. "Arcatius,"

"I'd rather just go to sleep now. We can talk more tomorrow." Arcatius's voice was somber and his eyes were glassy. He leaned away from the pillow he was resting against and lied the pillow flat so he could rest his head on it. Arcatius blew the candle out by his bed and then slid under the pelts.

Danya tossed and turned throughout most of the night. All she could think of was making the trip back to the campsite and how painful it would be for her, but she knew she needed the sleep to be able to make it.

Niruin stayed in the room kicked back in his chair with his feet on the table. Even though he was supposed to be watching over Danya and Arcatius to make sure that Dirge or Mercer didn't bother them, he dozed off often. It was hard for him to sleep though with the memories of Valenwood still fresh in his mind.

Within the next few days, things would change for Niruin though. Arcatius would have to tell him the truth about his sisters death and end the lie.


	14. A Long Day

**Chapter 14**

**A Long Day**

**4E 194 Skyrim, 2nd of Sun's Dusk**

The night sky was black but two full moons sat in the sky illuminating the land beneath them. Tall trees shaded a majority of the ground from the moon light but the light found a way to creep through the thick leaves and light the area beneath just enough for a nighttime traveler to see his path.

Beneath the thick trees walked a couple hand-in-hand guided by a small candle's flickering orange light. The lovers shared plenty of laughs and giggles as they lived their day to its fullest.

The boy, a burly Altmer with long tangle free golden hair, held a lantern in one hand and the girl's hand in the other. Soft angelic giggles came from the tall and slim Bosmer girl. Her long brown silky hair fell below her shoulder blades and was a nice complementary color to her light brown skin. The candle's flame danced in her wide, joyous, and youthful eyes. Her salmon colored plump lips curved into a soft smile showing her perfect bright white teeth.

The boy sat the lantern down at the foot of a tree in between its massive roots that covered the mossy soil. He leaned his broad shoulder against the tree watching the girl who's hand he held. His wide lips were bent into a perfect smile that stretched across his chiseled face. The boy's strong and defined cheekbones were highlighted in the candle's light and his green eyes reflected the light like jades.

He pulled the bubbly girl over closer to him by the tree. The large roots from the tree tripped the young girl and she stumbled and fell into the boy. The two fell into fits of laughter that filled the space around them.

"Today has been a great day." The girl leaned against the tree on her shoulder and faced the Altmer. "Thank you for everything, Arcatius." Her soft honeyed words were sincere and calming.

"No need to thank me, Lia." Despite being an Altmer, Arcatius's words weren't the usually haughty tone but instead a more sugar coated tranquil tone. "You've made my day great as well." His lips curved into a childish smile.

Lia's smile faded into a more somber expression. "Tomorrow's the day." He gaze turned towards the ground as she thought about her wedding with a man she barely knew tomorrow.

Arcatius cupped Lia's cheek with his palm. "I will always be here, Lia. You're not losing me." His smile died down but his reassuring words comforted her.

"I know that, but I won't be allowed to talk to you anymore, much less come out into the woods and goof off like we did today." There was a long pause between Lia's sentences. "I'm going to miss this more than anything. I'm going to miss _us_." Her glossy eyes burned into Arcatius's heart.

"This won't be the last time we do this. I swear on Y'Free it won't be." Arcatius's voice became shaky.

Lia said nothing but curved her lips into a warm smile. She perched up on to her tip toes and gave Arcatius a warm kiss on the lips.

Arcatius turned positioning himself in front of Lia. His rested his muscular forearm above her head and grabbed her waist with his free hand. "What was that? Is it your way of saying it won't be the last time? Or was it a cover up saying it _will_ be the last time?" Arcatius playful voice and laughter assured Lia of a hopeful future.

Lia wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a long kiss. Arcatius wound his bottom lip between her thick lips. He slipped his other arm down to her waist and picked her up, fixing the height difference problem. Lia wrapped her legs around his warm body.

After what seemed like such a short time to Arcatius, Lia slid her hands down to his chest and clinched on to his navy blue cloth shirt. She leaned her forehead into his chest ceasing their kisses.

"Why can't it be you?" Lia whispered in a low voice.

"Um..." A puzzled look grew across Arcatius's face. "What?"

"Why can't I get married to you?" Lia sighed.

Arcatius lifter her chin up with his finger. "I wish it was me too." His somber voice only brought more pain to Lia.

Lia unwound her legs from Arcatius's body letting them dangle . "When do you leave?" She looked up at Arcatius glossy eyed.

"For Cyrodiil? I have no idea. Father won't tell me." Arcatius shrugged his shoulders.

Lia took a deep breath. "I guess we should start heading home. After all I have a _big day_ tomorrow." She dropped her head resting it on Arcatius's chest.

Arcatius smiled and shook his head. "Don't let this consume you."

"It's too late for that." Lia said beating her head against Arcatius's chest.

Arcatius grabbed Lia by her shoulders and held her back so she couldn't beat her head anymore. "That hurts." He smiled looking down at Lia.

Lia looked back up at Arcatius and shyly smiled back while pushing her long brown hair behind her hear.

"Don't let it worry you too much." Arcatius threw his arm over her shoulder and leaned back next to her on the tree.

"Easy for you to say." Lia said grabbing his hand that dangled off of her shoulder.

"Easy for me to say? I'm the one leaving for Cyrodiil at who knows when for who knows how long." Arcatius's voice stayed calm as he spoke about his biggest fear.

A moment of silence passed before Lia spoke. "I'd rather not think about that."

Arcatius unwound his arm around Lia while still holding her hand and grabbed her free hand. "Come on." He said turning around and pulling Lia's arms over his shoulders.

Lia jumped up on his back and Arcatius let go of her hands to hold her legs up. She wrapped her arms around his neck and dropped her head down by his.

"Niruin's coming tomorrow." Lia whispered with a smile on her face.

"See? Tomorrow won't be so terrible." Arcatius chimed.

"Maybe not." Lia sounded dissatisfied though.

Lia hummed a song that she would sing while hunting. The gentle rhythm of her voice brought a smile to Arcatius's face and he began to sing along. His tone deaf singing was soon drowned out by Lia's fits of giggles.

"What, ya got a problem with my supreme voice?" Arcatius laughed.

"No! Those aren't the words!" Lia snickered.

"Oh, they most defiantly are!" Arcatius smiled looking at Lia who just shook her head. "I've heard this song thousands of times. Those have to be the words."

"And I have sung it thousands of times." Lia was smiling childishly. "Those aren't the words." She whispered to him.

Arcatius laughed shaking his head. "Okay. Okay. So I replaced a few words because I might of forgotten them."

Lia laughed and looked at the ground Arcatius walked on. She looked up noticing the gentle glow of lights from their village and her laughter ceased. Lia wrapped her arms tightly around Arcatius.

"Okay." Arcatius sighed dropping her and turned around to face her. "Lia, I love you. You know that. And guess what? I always will. That will never change." He grabbed her hands and squoze them tightly.

"I love you too, Arcatius. I just don't want to marry him." Lia sighed.

"I don't want you marrying him either but running away from our problems isn't an option now." Arcatius kept his gaze on Lia's dark brown eyes.

"But what if it is? We can leave right now, right?" Lia looked up into Arcatius's glossy gaze and he shook his head. "We should of left with Niruin! Why'd you let me talk you into not going? Why'd you listen to me then? You never listen to me, but-"

Her furious words were interrupted by two warm hands cupped around her cheeks and two warm lips pressed against hers. Arcatius slid his hands down to Lia's shoulders and then pulled away from the kiss.

"Better." He mumbled irritatedly to himself.

He grabbed her soft hand and silently lead her to her home where the two stopped in front of the steps.

"Goodnight, Arcatius. I love you." Lia wore a sheepish grin to conceal her pain.

"I love you too, Lia." Arcatius smiled down at the girl he loved. He kissed her on the cheek and then turned to walk to his home. "Goodnight and I'll see you tomorrow." Arcatius said over his shoulder.

There was a short pause of silence before Lia came chasing after Arcatius. "Wait." She grabbed his wrist and he promptly turned around to face her. "I want you to meet me after the ceremony in the wooded area behind my home. I- I want to have my first dance with you." Tears blinded Lia's eyes.

Arcatius wrapped his arms around her small body pulling her into a hug. "I'd love to share the first dance with you, Lia." A single tear ran down the bridge of his nose and dropped into Lia's hair.

Lia propped up on her tip toes and gave him a soft kiss on his cheek before hurrying off inside her home.

Arcatius sat the lantern down on a table sitting on his porch and then made his way inside. He wasn't supposed to be out so he quietly creaked the door open and snuck in to his home. With his back facing the inside, he closed the door behind him and was sure not to make a sound.

When Arcatius turned around he froze. His father stood before him dressed in his Thalmor robes accompanied by three more men in Thalmor robes.

"Oh, look who came home at a good time." One of the Thalmor men spoke.

"Arcatius." His father walked over to him. "Tonight you will leave for Cyrodiil!"

Panic struck Arcatius. His eyes grew wide, he broke out in a cold sweat, and his breathing became labored and heavy.

"No." He barely whispered the word before everything around him vanished into black.

Arcatius woke up in the cold stone room. _It was just a dream, _he thought to himself. Niruin and a man he didn't know stood by a table discussing something that looked important.

Arcatius ran the back of his hand across his forehead wiping the sweat off.

"Arcatius!" Niruin's excitement to see Arcatius away shortly faded into worry. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, um, just a bad dream." Arcatius shyly smiled and let out a fake laugh.

Niruin nodded his head and then turned to the man. "Rune," he said addressing the man. "Go talk to Sapphire for me about the new job."

"If I must." Rune sighed while marching out of the room.

Niruin closed the door behind Rune and walked over to Arcatius's bedside. "Everything alright?"

"No," Arcatius turned over to his back. "This wasn't as much of a nightmare as much of a... Painful memory."

Niruin sat down in the chair pulled up by the bed. "What was it?" He rested his elbows on his knees.

Arcatius looked over at Niruin. "It was the night I left for Cyrodiil."

"With Lia?" Niruin asked somberly.

Arcatius nodded his head. "Um, what time is it?"

"Eh, it's after noon. Probably around three." Niruin shrugged.

"So, I take it Danya already left?" Arcatius asked.

Niruin stood up and slid the chair he was sitting in against the wall with his foot. "Yeah, she just left actually." He walked over to the table he was standing by with Rune and pulled out a Dwarven that was lodged in the table. The golden dagger was coated in a gooey blue substance.

"What are you doing?" Arcatius sat up looking at Niruin.

Niruin was holding the dagger in front of his face watching gravity slowly take effect on the goo. "I have to show you something." A childish grin grew across his face.

Danya had not seen daylight in far too long. When she emerged from the secret entrance for the Cistern shaded by a rock canopy, the warmth of the sun overwhelmed her. She paused as she let her skin bask in the sun's rays.

The day was warm and only a few clouds sat in sight. There was no cool breeze that usually stirred the air at her home to help cool her off.

The guild had lent Danya a black tee, brown trousers, and a pair of lace-up boots for her to wear out that day. She loosely held her Daedric dagger in her fist. It was one of the few things she had taken with her from their camp. She gently fit the dagger through a loop on the side of her pants and proceeded to make her way to the gate on the other side of the large keep.

As she walked through the town she could hear the cheers and laughter of the towns folk. The town that seemed so dull and lifeless to Danya turned out to be filled with more joy than she had originally thought. She had noticed that for this to be a town known for its crime and corruption, there were very few guards patrolling around. She has seen, at most, three guards throughout the whole town.

Danya had made her way past the keep and was nearing the gate to exit the town. It wasn't the gate she had come in the town through but she figured it would have to do since she didn't know the town well. The large keep shaded the area near the gate off from any sunlight but large shrubs still managed to grow around the area.

Two large hands clinched on to Danya's shoulders, forcing her to a stop. She whipped around ready to pull a dagger on someone but when she turned around she was face to face with a cackling man dressed in Thieves' Guild armor.

"Rune?" Danya questioned irritatedly.

"Well that was funny." Rune said still laughing. "Where ya going?"

Danya clinched her fists by her side. "It wasn't funny." Her voice was stern. She spun around and headed towards the gate again.

"Hey! That doesn't answer my question." Rune said as he caught up with her.

"I'm going back to the small camp Arcatius and I made." Danya said with a sigh.

"By yourself?" Rune stood in front of Danya obstructing her path.

Danya looked around and then threw her hands out. "It would look like that wouldn't it?"

Rune shrugged while scratching the back of his neck. "I- I'd guess so."

"And you'd be right." Danya said pushing him aside.

"Wait. You should find someone to go with you. I'd go but I have a contract that I need to do." Concern grew across Rune's innocent face.

"If I see someone I will ask for help." Danya smiled before turning around and pushing open the large and heavy wooden gate.

A Riften guard stood on the other side of the gate. He was leaning against the stone wall behind him and his head was cocked to the side. His snoring was a immediate give away that he was asleep, next to his appearance.

Danya rolled her eyes and continued on down the stone path. Once she got far enough so that she wasn't able to be seen by the guard, she shot an ice spike in his direction. The spike hit the stone wall next to his head and shattered into dozens of small pieces falling into grass by his feet.

"Hey! Watch the magic!" He yelled out into the woods.

Danya chuckled to herself and then turned around. She looked up from the ground and froze in her tracks staring wide eyed at what was in front of her.

Four large men were standing in her way all wearing Imperial armor. The largest man stood in the front with his hands crossed over his chest. The soldiers behind him wore cheeky grins on their face.

"And what was that about?" The burly man dressed in heavy Imperial armor in front question Danya.

Danya positioned herself straight. "He was asleep, so I woke him up. I guess this is why the Thieves Guild resides here. The guards are so _lazy_." She wore a boastful smile as she spoke so scornfully about the guards.

"Uh huh." The large man in front turned around to face his soldiers. The man had dark skin and shaved black hair. His face was covered in scruff that didn't cover his scars well. A large gash ran over the top of his head and down to his forehead. His light topaz blue eyes shone brightly in the sunlight yet they showed exhaustion. "Where are you going exactly? We can't have infidels running around loosely." His voice was deep and stern.

"I'm going to my camp to gather my belongings. You are welcome to join me if you must." Danya kept her smile going strong.

The man man rolled his eyes. "Fine. Boys," He addressed the soldiers behind him. "Go into town while I take this lady to her camp." His voice sounded irritated.

Danya lead the way passing by the younger looking soldiers. The two walked for a while in silence before Danya eased up the un-comfort. "And you are?"

"I'm Luven. I've been in the Imperial Legion for years now. I've seen many great battles." He said boastfully.

Danya nodded her head. "Did you happen to meet a Mage and healer named Danya?"

"Never meet her, but she was a healer for one of the battles I fought in. I have heard and did hear a lot about her." Luven shielded his eyes from the sunlight as he looked over at Danya. "Why, you know her?"

"Oh, I am Danya." Danya smiled as she thought back to the war days.

"Ah so you're the great Mage that everyone raves about." Luven chuckled. "Why'd you quit?"

"I lost my honor." Danya said grimly trying to avoid eye contact.

"Lost honor? Hah, is that a joke? You were known to everyone in the Legion and in the Rebellion!" Luven took his large hand and grasped the back of Danya's neck loosely.

"I did. You can ask Tullius or Ser-" Her voice paused as she though of Seras, her old love. "How's Seras?" She turned her head towards the tall man.

Luven smiled and shook his head. "I haven't heard that name in a while." The man bit his lower lip. "The last time I heard his name was about a few months after I head you had dropped out."

Danya closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. She exhaled with a soft sigh. "By the gods." She mumbled to herself.

"Something wrong?" Luven looked down at Danya who was now rubbing her temples.

She looked up at the path in front of her. "No. I'm- I'm fine."

Luven grabbed her shoulder and held her back from walking any further. Danya looked up at him wide eyed yet anger clearly boiled in her eyes. She was furious at herself and at her old lover. Her anger set face quickly faded into a more saddened expression.

"We had talked before I went to one of my last battles, we said that if I quit or he quit, then we'd quit together. Little did we know, I was about to go into the battle that I would lose all my dignity in." She paused and took a deep shaky breath. "I would be dead if not for Seras. The day I tried to successfully kill Ciara but failed, Seras left the camp he was supposed to be tending to the soldiers at. He made his way to the battle and happened to arrive at the camp just in time to watch as I fell from a rocky cliff down to my death. Seras was able to save me while getting in trouble for leaving his camp."

"So he left because you left?" Luven asked jumping in to conclusions.

"I'm afraid so. I became a healer with him after I humiliated myself, then I soon realized that I was getting no where with that. I wasn't any where as good as Seras and it wasn't something I enjoyed." Danya frowned.

Luven gave Danya a weird glare. "I thought you loved magic?"

"I enjoyed inflicting people with pain, not watching my own men in misery." She smirked back to Luven.

Luven smiled and rubbed the top of his lip. "Okay, well why do you think Seras just left, where would he go to?"

"I'm not sure. We talked about several places." Danya sighed. "He might of not even left. He might still be a healer and you just haven't heard of him." Danya reassured herself.

Luven took a deep breath in through his teeth. He was fairly high up in the Legion so he would know if Seras was still healing or not, but he kept his mouth shut in fear of hurting Danya. "So, about this camp,"

"We were resting for the night and then we woke up to some, uh, unexpected visitors." Danya interrupted him. "I'm fine, but Arcatius..." Her voice trailed off.

"Do you know exactly _where_ the camp is?" Luven questioned her. They had walked quite a distance already and seemed to be getting no where.

"Umm. Not exactly." Danya looked around the area. "I know it was by this lake." She wore a sheepish grin across her face.

"Lovely." Luven grumbled to himself.

Danya looked at the path ahead noticing it trailed off from the lake. She was quick to change her direction and moved off the stone path towards the lake.

Luven had continued following the path that Danya was originally following. He turned around to ask her a question but he soon realized that she was walking along the perimeter of the lake. "What are you doing?" He yelled trying to catch up.

Danya waited until he stood next to her to answer. "Our camp was somewhere around the lake." She added a bit of attitude.

"How do you know it's still there?" Luven was growing irritated.

"I don't." A cool breeze interrupted her sentence blowing her hair back from her face and cooling her off. "But I promised Arcatius that I would get his book for him."

"His book? How old is this kid?" Luven laughed.

Danya gawked over at Luven. "He is forty-six. And he has been to oblivion and back. He's a lot better of a man than you."

"Oh," Luven sheepishly said looking down at the ground. "So, um, what is this _book_?"

Danya scrunched her nose up. "I'm not entirely sure. Other than it holds a bunch of notes that he wrote back and forth with his gir-" Danya stopped herself in the middle of the sentence realizing that the two were never really anything official and she cleared her throat. "With his love."

"Did I miss something there?" Luven scratched the back of his head.

"Not that I know of. Arcatius fell in love with a girl from his town. She fell in love with him as well. And well, their parents didn't allow anything to happen between them so they forced his the girl into marriage." Danya sighed.

Luven nodded his head back to her but kept his gaze over the lake.

"Hey! There's the rocks that Arcatius found the bow on." Danya cheered.

Luven stopped in place and watched as she ran to the lake. "What?"

Danya ran up to the edge of the lake and stood ankle deep in the smoothly flowing current.

"Um, you're not gonna like try to swim. Right?" Luven still stood in the same spot.

Danya gazed over the lake. The bright sun's rays danced on top of the water and the vibrantly colored leaves falling from the trees elegantly fell on to the surface of the water.

"I believe so." She turned around facing Luven with a childish smirk.

Danya swiftly ran through the cool water over to the rocky island with swift long strides.

Luven rolled his eyes and sighed. "You don't honestly expect me to follow you."

"Afraid of a little water, hmm?" Danya shouted over her shoulder.

"Eh hah, no." Luven spoke nervously and with a shaky voice.

"The water is thigh deep. You'll be fine." Danya laughed.

Danya made her way around the rocky land over to the lake's bank.

Luven stepped into the water trying to catch up with her. The cool liquid surrounded his bare legs sending chills up his spine.

Danya waited at the bank of the river for Luven. "No need to worry," she shouted as she watched him slowly make his was across the wide lake. "Nothing will get you, well except for a slaughter fish!"

Luven's eyes widened and panic struck him. He held his arms above the waist deep water and made his way to the bank with haste.

"You said thigh deep water." He scoffed with heavy breaths.

Danya laughed. "I say a lot of things."

Luven rolled his eyes as he followed her over to the abandoned camp site.

When Luven saw the camp his walking slowed to almost a stop but Danya had kept moving along swiftly. Two large Orc bodies lied on the soil with blood caked on their olive green skin and the grass and dirt around them. Both bodies had deep fatal wounds in them and some new broken flesh areas from where animals had snacked on them.

The repulsive smell drew most creatures away and made Luven sick to his stomach. He grabbed a loose cloth from under the large shinning steel on his armor and pulled it up over his nose.

Two bed rolls lied on either side of a fire that had died. Other than two knapsacks, some food, and half empty mead bottles there wasn't much left at the camp.

Danya grabbed her knapsack and threw her it over her shoulder and then walked over to Arcatius's knapsack. "I guess the bandits decided not to ransack our camp after all." She shrugged while picking up the knapsack.

Luven looked at the dried blood stains that surrounded the camp. "It's this smell."

Danya threw the knapsack over the one she already wore. "It's not that bad."

Luven gave Danya a disgusted gawk.

"Oh please. You must not do much in the war if _this_ bothers you!" Danya scolded. She walked over to the Orc's body that had been the one to throw her against the rock and grabbed him by the fur armor along his waist. Her arms still ached from being tossed at the rocks but she ignored the pain and rolled the Orc over.

Underneath the Orc lied the bow, quiver of arrows, and a coin purse that Danya had her intentions set on getting. She tossed the coin purse in her knapsack and the bow and arrows over her back.

"Lead the way." Danya cheered looking over at Luven.

He looked up at her. "You're done?" Luven was still a bit taken off guard by the great amount of blood covering the area.

Danya nodded her head as she walked over to the path she had traveled down with Arcatius's body when the incident occurred.

Luven was quick to follow behind her. "How'd you..." His voice trailed off as he contemplated the situation.

"How did I?" Danya hummed back.

Luven held his finger between his teeth. "This boy. How'd you carry him back to Riften?"

"I was in the Imperial Legion. I've carried men much more heavy set than him with arrows being shot at me plenty of times." Danya boasted.

Luven nodded his head. "But you were injured?"

"I never told you that." Danya said with caution.

"No, but the cuts running down your face and arm are new, so I assumed." Luven looked at the bruised skin on her.

"Fair enough. Yes, I was injured, but that doesn't mean I didn't have an adrenaline rush help me... Or a strength potion." She mumbled a bit.

Luven laughed and nodded his head and then looked up the stone path to Riften.

The two had made great time and were already halfway back to Riften and most of the walking was now in silence.

"What's your fear with water?" Danya spoke up interrupting Luven's thoughts.

"It's kind of a long story." Luven said shyly.

"I have time." Danya's response was quick.

Luven sighed. "Fine. When I was a boy my parents owned and captained a boat for the Legion. I was lucky enough to travel on their adventures with them. We went traveling out off the coast of Black Marsh and Morrowind, I was just eight at the time. We got out far into the sea easily and had traveled north up the coast of Black Marsh with no worries, until a violent storm hit. Our boat was a nice sized boat, but it was no match for those ripping waves. The boat ended up crashing into a large rock and tore apart the boards underneath leaving us to sink. My parents told me to stay on the rock that we had hit and they continued trying to save the people aboard. I wouldn't of made it out alive if it weren't for an Argonian carrying me all the way to shore." Luven smiled and shook his head. "I owe him my life. I woke up lying face down on the dirt shore with the Argonian just a few feet in front of me face down as well. We traveled together until I got home and went off to live with my older brother. I'm not sure where the man went."

"That would shake me up as well." Danya's words had meaning to them, being she lost her parents as well, but she wasn't about to tell the stranger that.

They had made it to Riften right as clouds were rolling in over the sun bringing loud cracks of thunder and a heavy sprinkle of rain.

"I'll be at the Bee and Barb if you want to catch up later. Maybe we can look into finding Seras." Luven winked at Danya as he crossed the bridge heading into the inn with his friends.

"Alright, well if you can find him, I will most certainly be in!" Danya laughed back.

Danya walked into to Arcatius's cold room greeted with laughter and smiles. Arcatius, Rune, and Niruin were laughing and sharing stories and ale.

"Danya!" The three men chanted.

Danya chimed in to their laughter, "Arcatius, I was able to get-"

"Oh, Danya!" Niruin interrupted her. "You won't believe this, I found out what made Arcatius's wound so bad!" He stood up from his chair placing one hand on her shoulder and the other in the air with a bottle of ale.

"Oh do tell." Danya said unenthusiastically.

"The blade was poisoned! It took me until today to figure that out." Niruin pointed the bottle of ale at Danya's face and bursted into fits of laughter along with the other men in the room.

"And you're all drunk." Danya rolled her eyes and threw Niruin's hand off of her shoulder. She tossed the book and knapsack onto Arcatius. "You're welcome." Danya said peeved.

The Dunmer walked over to her bed and sat her knapsack down along with the bow and arrows and then made her way to the bar.

"Woah, Danya! Wait! Join us. Grab a bottle!" Arcatius called out to Danya but she chose to ignore him and kept walking.

The Flaggon was empty except for two people she had not seen before. One of them was a younger looking girl wearing the typical thieves armor but the armor was a dark black color simular to Brynjolf's. She was leaned up against some boxes stacked up on top of each other on the opposite side of the room. Her skin was pale white and her hair was a light platinum blonde. Danya could over hear her talking to the other man she didn't know. The girl's words were harsh and her voice was stern.

"Hey look. A visitor." The girl addressed Danya.

Danya walked into the room further.

"Why don't ya take a seat?" The unknown man's heavy accent caught Danya off guard. The man was sitting at a table near the entrance to the Flagon.

Danya cautiously sat her self down in the chair across from the man.

"What's your name?" The Breton man swung his words with a raspy accent.

Compared to the unknown girl, he looked aged. His skin was a dark tan color and he was bald headed. The only hair he had was a small area of blonde scruff around his mouth.

"I'm Danya, and who might you be?" Danya made sure to throw the question right back to him.

"Ah, I've heard about you. I'm Delvin and that's Vex over there." The man smiled looking over at the hateful girl. "You're here with that boy right? Atius?" Delvin directed his attention back to Danya.

"Arcatius, and yes, I am here with him. I would be with him now but he decided it'd be a good idead to get drunk." Danya's words came out more scornful than she had intended.

"Woo, someone's gettin' an earful later." Delvin whistled while adjusting his black leather armor.

Danya shook her head. "No, it's not that, I'm just... Confused." Her words were soft.

"Bout what?" Delvin asked before taking a large swig of mead.

"Oh... It's nothing." Danya smiled.

"Where is everyone today?" An irritated female haughty accent echoed off the stone walls around the room.

"Contracts, Galathil. We do have a job." Vex snapped.

"Who's that?" Danya asked Delvin.

"Ah, that would be Galathil. She's a face sculptor. Nothing too impressive if you ask me, thieving is where the skill comes in." Delvin chuckled to himself.

"Vekel, what time is it?" Vex whined.

Vekel looked up from the floor he was sweeping at Vex with dagger like eyes. "I don't know." He mumbled scornfully. "I liked it better when you were working on that contract and not here complaining all day."

Danya sighed and pushed her chair out from under the table. She walked out of the room ignoring the small talk that echoed off the walls and continued down the hall to the Cistern. Loud chants and laughter escaped from the bedroom with Arcatius. Danya walked past the room without thought and opened the door to the Cistern.

The large open area in the Cistern was empty except for Vipir who was lying in a bed with his face in a book. Sapphire's voice echoes off the walls. She lied in the bed next to Vipir's but he seemed to be ignoring her.

Danya walked over to a wide hallway on the left side of the Cistern that lead to a training room.

The large room was illuminated brightly by candles scattered around the room. Dummies filled the room hanging from the walls and resting on top of haystacks. In a corner by the door sat several various types of chests used to practice lock picking.

Danya walked over to the far corner of the room and sat down in a chair beside a small table. She scooted the chair back and kicked her legs up on to the table and rested her head back on the wall behind her.

"What are you doing?" A rough voice came from a haystack in the shadows. Thyrnn jumped down from the haystack into the light and sloppily walked over to Danya at the table. He wore a clean long sleeve black shirt and his purple-grey Guild Armor pants.

Danya sighed, "Trying to get away from..." She paused looking at the door to the room. Laughter and shouts eased its way into the practice room from Arcatius's room. "_Them_."

"Want one?" Thrynn held out a small purple bottle with worn paper around it.

"Skooma?" Danya whispered while grabbing the bottle from his hand.

"Only the best." Thrynn jumped onto the small wooden table and leaned his back against the corner of the wall. "But let's keep this our little secret."

Danya took a large sip of the illegal drink. "Fine by me. Where in Oblivion did you get this?"

"Back when I was a bandit, we'd raid Kahjit caravans and strip them clean of their moon sugar and Skooma. I have a large collection of Skooma left that I keep hidden in that hay over there." Thrynn's words were a bit slurred implying he had already had quite a sum of Skooma that night.

"Well, this is what I needed." Danya looked down at the bottle in her hands. "This and my robes." She shrugged.

"Your robes?" Thrynn said before finishing off a bottle of Skooma.

"I am supposed to give these clothes back to the guild but I need my robes first, or else I'll be walking around naked." Danya said rubbing at the fabric of the pants.

"Eh, you'll be fine." Thrynn licked the corners of his lips still trying to savor ever drop of the Skooma.

"I am _not_ going to walk around naked!" Danya snapped.

"No. Not that. You can keep the clothes. We don't care." Thrynn slipped the empty bottle of Skooma into his pocket.

"Thanks but I prefer my robes." Danya took another large sip of the Skooma.

The two listened as muffled sounds echoed off the cold damp stone walls.

"Sounds like everybody is going to bed." Thrynn said running his fingers through his hair.

"Most of everybody." Danya sighed.

Her comment was soon followed by more laughter from Arcatius's room.

"I'm going to go shut that door." Danya sighed before taking the last swig of Skooma the bottle had to offer.

"Blow a few candles out on your way. I don't want to be the one responsible for this place burning to the ground." Thrynn said looking a little sluggish.

Danya laughed and blew most of the candles out leaving the room full of shadows and little light. The only candles still lit were the two in lanterns on the table with Thrynn and sitting on a book shelf on the far end of the room.

Danya briskly walked past the sleeping thieves in the Cistern. Sapphire had turned her back to Vipir and fallen asleep, Vipir had let the book collapse on top of him, and Delvin, Vex, and Tonilia were snuggled up in various other beds. Lucky for Danya, Mercer was no where to be seen.

Danya walked by the room filled with the boisterous men and slammed the door shut and then continued making her way to the Flagon.

She walked over to Galathil, who was reading a book on a bench, and threw a coin purse in the Bosmer's lap. "I want these wrinkles gone." Danya said pointing to her face.

Galathil looked up at her and then at the bag. "I suppose I can fix that." She held the bag up by the string tying it together. "How much is in here?"

"750 gold." Danya said sternly.

"That'll do for wrinkles. Alright. Lets see about this."

Danya walked into the dark room with Thrynn. Her face was sore and felt tight.

"You took a while." Thrynn said stretching his arms out.

"A bit longer than I had hoped." Danya quickly placed her hand on her face. She had not realized talking would be so painful, but she had to pull through and act as if nothing's wrong. "Anymore Skooma?"

"Ah, that's what I like to hear! Look in the haystack. Get me a bottle too." The candle's light highlighted Thrynn's wide smile that grew across his face. The two red lines of war paint on both of his cheeks were smudged across his face and his two small braids on either side of his head were starting to come loose.

Danya handed him a bottle and held another in her hand. She opened the bottle and took a small sip of the drink. The sweet sugary liquid rolled down the back of her throat easily.

"Oh, this... This is that double distilled Skooma." Thrynn said with a drunken smile.

"Double what?" Danya said licking the sugary liquid from her lips.

"I'm not sure. I just know it's some of the strongest stuff out there!" Thrynn laughed.

Danya looked at her bottle realizing that it was almost empty. She took the last sip and lied the bottle on the table beside three others. Danya stood up with intentions set on getting more Skooma but she soon realized she would not be able to make it over to the haystack.

"There is a crate with meads and ales over in the book shelf." Thrynn pointed towards the bookcases that lined the wall.

Danya got the crate and brought it back over to the table. Her vision was blurred and her legs were weak but she knew the ale and mead would whisk away her pain.

Danya grabbed a bottle of wine and Thrynn grabbed some mead from the crate. The two drank and talked all night until they both passed out on the table.


	15. The Day After

**Chapter 15**

**The Day After**

**4E 194 Skyrim, 3rd of Sun's Dusk**

Danya woke up lied out on a pile of hay. A warm arm lied across her bare back and held her tightly. Both of her arms lied under her head shielding her face from the rough scratchy hay that irritated her bare skin. A warm blanket covered her back from the cold air that filled the room.

Danya opened her eyes from her deep sleep shocked to see who lied next to her. Thrynn lied sleeping next to her in a deep tranquil sleep. His free arm lied under his head supporting it up off the hay.

Danya lifted her upper body up and rested on her elbows. She rubbed her eyes and looked around. They were surrounded by empty wine and Skooma bottles. On Danya's left side were two hay bales stacked on top of each other creating a wall and on her right side was the bottom of the stone wall. In front of the two, three hay bales were stacked up and nothing acted as a wall behind them.

Danya looked over at Thrynn sleeping beside her. His tanned back was lined with white scars. Danya looked down at her arm at her own large scar. She ran her fingers over the puffy skin of the scar that Ciara had given her.

Thrynn's eyes fluttered open as he awakened from his sleep but his heavy eyelids fell back down quickly. His hand ran up Danya's back to her shoulder and came to a sudden halt before slowly lifting up and drawing back. Thrynn opened his eyes wide looking at Danya. He turned his body to his side and dropped his arm down on his own body.

"Well, damn." Thrynn mumbled to himself with a slightly sarcastic tone.

"Just lovely." Danya sighed sarcastically. Danya looked at Thrynn's chest. Several more scars ran across his body. A large puffy scar ran across the left half of his lower abdomen.

Thrynn rolled over on to his back and sighed. He picked up one of the many empty bottles that scattered the floor. "I thought we passed out over there." Thrynn pointed the bottom of the bottle to the table and chair. "Guess I was wrong." He dropped the bottle on the ground.

"I thought the same." Danya ran her fingers through her hair and yawned.

Thrynn turned over on to his stomach looking at his stash of Skooma in front of him. "On the bright side, I didn't even know we had actual blankets and not just cheap hides." Thrynn tried to ease the situation.

"Oh, yes we do." A familiar voice spoke from behind Danya and Thrynn. "And you should be glad I lent them to you before you two ended up like this."

Danya let her head fall into the palms of her hands and Thrynn let out a long sigh. "Mercer." They both whispered simultaneously.

"Do you remember _anything_ about last night?" Mercer asked in outrage.

Thrynn turned around and sat up facing Mercer. "No, we don't." He said seemingly unconcerned.

"I came in here last night looking for you and you were both dead asleep by that table. I woke you both up and tried to get you to bed but you made it obvious that you wouldn't be getting up anytime soon. So it was then when I gave you the blanket and told you to be well rested for your _contract_ tomorrow, however your friend over here seemed to be hogging the blanket all to her self. When I left you had told her to go get some more Skooma, which might explain how you ended up over there." Mercer explained to them sounding displeased.

Danya sat up next to Thrynn holding the blanket over her body. She yawned and then wiped the tears, from the yawn, from her weak eyes with the back of her fingers.

"Oh and your clothes are still over here." Mercer said holding his hands out towards the clothes on the ground. "Who knows how." He mumbled to himself.

"Well can we have them?" Thrynn said pointing to their clothes lying by Mercer's feet.

Mercer threw the two their undergarments and then threw Thrynn his clothes. "I do believe these belong to the guild." Mercer said holding up Danya's borrowed clothes.

"Oh, come on. Just let her have them." Thrynn pleaded.

"What's ours is ours, Thrynn." Mercer wore a devilish smirk across his face as he walked out of the room with the clothes.

"Mercer!" Thrynn's pleas were ignored.

Danya sighed while grabbing her undergarments.

"Here. You can wear this." Thrynn lied his shirt on Danya's lap.

"Thank you." Danya whispered while tying the strings on her bra together.

Danya pulled the shirt over her head and Thrynn was already slipping into his pants. The shirt came down to Danya's mid thigh and her finger tips barely peeked out of the long sleeves. She stood up pulling her under ware on and managed to stumble on some empty bottles lying around.

"You go get your robes. I'll clean this mess up." Thrynn said with a smile rubbing his eyes.

Danya nodded her head and made her way to the door. She paused on the other side of the hay bales. "I'm sorry." Her voice was quiet and exhausted.

"For what? I'm the one who brought out the Skooma." Thrynn walked over to the hay bales.

"Still." Danya sighed while shaking her head.

"Don't worry about it." Thrynn smiled and shook Danya's shoulder.

Danya slowly creaked the door open to Arcatius's room. Niruin was sitting up rubbing eyes while on Danya's bed, Rune was sitting in a chair with his head and arms lying on the table beside him, and Arcatius was sprawled out in his own bed.

"Danya?" Niruin said in the middle of a yawn.

"Where are my robes?" She closed the wooden door behind her.

Niruin shrugged. "Hey, Arcatius."

"You won't be able to get him up." Danya sighed.

Niruin looked at Danya raising a brow and laughed. He picked up Arcatius' blood stained book off the floor and threw it at Arcatius' chest.

Arcatius jumped into a sitting position with one leg hanging off the bed and the other out from under the furs. "What in Oblivion?" Arcatius gripped the book firmly while looking at Niruin who was chuckling. Arcatius then turned his glare towards Danya who was now rocking up and down on her toes from the cold. "What in-"

"Where are my robes?" Danya sternly interrupted.

"I don't know? I was asleep when you left." Arcatius defended himself but was still questioning his half-dressed friend.

Danya walked over to the table with Rune and picked up a tankard of mead. She splashed the cool mead on his face.

Rune woke up in shock. "What was that for?" He wiped the mead from his eyes and looked up at Danya. "Oh, it's you. Hey, isn't that Thrynn's-"

"Do you know where my robes are?" Danya interrupted Rune before he could finish.

"You're gonna have to ask Saph." Rune stretched back in his chair.

"Ay, that is Thrynn's shirt." Niruin said drowsily.

"Yes. It is Thrynn's shirt." Danya sighed with attitude.

"Thrynn? He's the last person I'da expected." Arcatius said a little louder than he had planned.

Danya covered half of her face with her hand to rub the drowsiness away. "Alright, I guess I have to explain myself."

The three men nodded their heads and mumbled yes.

"I was sick and tired of your drunken asses and decided I would go to the Flagon." Danya kept a straight and calm face. "That was a poor choice."

"Wait." Arcatius interrupted while rubbing his eyes. "You look... Younger?"

Danya rolled her eyes and ignored Arcatius' statement. "After meeting Vex and Delvin, I left and went to the training room. Thrynn was in there and we shared a few drinks then we both fell asleep. After some time, Mercer came in there and woke us up. We don't remember this, but he told us to go to our beds and we refused. So being that we were awake, we drank some more. Then we woke up on the floor... Naked. Oh and Mercer won't let me wear the guild clothes."

"Well, we all got drunk last night but we didn't bang anyone." Niruin laughed.

Danya rolled her eyes. "You're too funny." She scoffed sarcastically.

The giggles from the men slowly faded into silence and straight faces trying to hide their amusement.

Arcatius cleared his throat. "Don't you have an extra pair of clothes in your bag?"

"Yes, but they're blood stained." Danya paused and looked back at Arcatius with a glare. "I'm surprised you remember me bringing our stuff in."

Arcatius shrugged his shoulders. "I have a tolerance to alcohol."

Danya gave his a look of disgust. "You haven't seen yourself drunk." She turned around and opened the door to leave but was stopped in the door way by a hand on her shoulder.

Thrynn stood in front of her obstructing her path. He had already changed into his guild armor. His firm grip gently pushed her back in side the room and he closed the door behind him.

"I'm afraid this room is taken." Arcatius said before taking a bite from an apple.

Thrynn gave him a fake laugh with an irked glare. "Have you not found your robes?" He asked Danya out of concern.

"No, I will find something though." Danya sighed while running her hand through her hair.

"I'm about to go do this contract so I'll pick you up something then." Thrynn said with a gentle smile. "And as for you guys." Thrynn's tone changed as he turned and pointed at the men. "Mercer isn't happy with you."

"Why?" Arcatius said with a mouth full of chewed up apple.

"You're becoming a disturbance." Thrynn chimed clasping his hands together.

"He said that?" Rune sat back astonished.

"No." Thrynn said with a blank stare. "But the rest of the guild said that! I think it'd be best if you didn't know what Mercer said."

Niruin got up from the bed he had be sprawled out on. "I'll take your word for it."

Thrynn nodded his head and made his way out.

"Well, Danya, you made him feel like crap." Niruin said wide eyed while pouring water from a Flagon into his tankard.

"Shut up." Danya said softly before punching Niruin in the arm. She walked over and slid on to her bed.

Loud clashing of metal against the stone floor came from the Flagon followed by shouts from Vex.

"Oh, excitement." Niruin said leaving the room.

Rune followed Niruin shouting behind to Arcatius and Danya that he'd be back before slamming the door shut behind him.

Danya lied in her temporary bed in silence. She lied on her stomach with her arms wrapped around the pillow she rested her head on.

"You remember what happened, don't you?" A smirk grew on Arcatius's face.

Danya's eyes opened and looked at the man who was lying in his bed that stood just five feet away. "Yes." She sighed after a long pause of silence.

Arcatius giggled. "I knew it."

"Don't tell anyone." Danya pleaded.

"I won't. Does he not remember?" Arcatius grew a bit concerned for his friend.

"No. Or at least he says he doesn't." Regret filled Danya's voice.

"So what really happened?" Arcatius's curiously asked.

Danya looked over at her innocent friend. "We had been drinking Skooma and had a little too much. After talking for a while and confessing a little too much, Thrynn pulled me up on the table beside him. So, I joined him, I saw no harm in it. We then fell asleep and later Mercer came in to wake us up so that we could go to our beds. Thrynn argued saying he was fine there and then Mercer got a little peeved and pulled out a blanket telling him to make himself comfortable then. I tried and tried to get him back to his bed so he'd be well rested for this contract and then he offered another drink. I was not against another drink at all so I went over to the Skooma pile, pushed aside the two hay bales, and proceeded to get some Skooma. However, my head was spinning and I ended up falling over while pushing the hay to the side. Thrynn came over to help but he found out as well that he wasn't as sober as he had thought. I made the offer to just sleep there and, well, when things got a little sexual I didn't protest against anything but instead jumped on it."

"Literally." Arcatius chuckled.

Danya warmly laughed. "How's that wound of yours doing?"

"I don't know, but Niruin says it's real well." Arcatius lifted up his shirt exposing the wrappings around his abdomen. "I have to drink a plentiful healing potion everyday though."

"It will only help you." Danya swung her legs over the edge of the bed and sat up. "But it sure does taste... Foul."

"Hah, yeah sure. _Foul_." Arcatius said sarcastically. He tossed his apple into a bucket filled with empty glass bottles. "Foul is an understatement."

A soft knock at the door startled the two. The door slowly opened and Vex peaked her head in.

"We need you." Vex pointed at Danya. "And you. Stay here." She directed to Arcatius.

Both Danya and Arcatius gawked at Vex before looking and each other and exchanging a small shrug.

Danya stood up and followed Vex into the Flagon where all the guild members were that didn't have contracts to finish.

"Here she is." Vex announced while ponting behind her with her thumb.

A couple of the guild members held back their giggles as the half dressed Dunmer walked in. The only thieves in the room were Sapphire, Vex, Delvin, Tonilia, Rune, Niruin, and Vipir. However, Niruin, Rune, and Vipir had been the only ones not to laugh or gawk at Danya.

"And who's shirt would that be?" The low growl came from Dirge who was leaning up against some crates with his arms crossed in front of his broad chest.

"I think you all know who's it is." Danya looked around the room at the thieves then back at Dirge.

"That we do." Dirge laughed as he ran his fingers down the edge of his dagger's blade. "You've caused an awful lot of trouble here. You know that?"

"I don't believe I do." Danya said firmly with narrow eyes.

"We are in shambles already, elf, and we don't need you coming in here and mucking things up. However, it seems as if it's too late now," Dirge pointed his dagger at Danya. "I mean look at you. You don't even have clothes."

"I'm still looking for my robes." Danya's voice became more aggressive.

"Oh, you mean _those_?" Dirge laughed as he pointed his dagger to the large water filled hole taking up the middle of the Flagon.

Danya looked over the large crates and at the musky stone pond. Floating on top of the still water were her blue robes. Danya made her way over to the edge of the wooden deck to try and get her robes but she was abruptly stopped by Dirge's large hand on her shoulder.

"You don't want them." The large burly man smiled down to her with a look of death in his red eyes. "Those robes are in poor condition."

Danya looked down at the polished steel dagger in Dirge's hand that held her shoulder. Her own reflection could be seen in the dagger and she could see the anger boiling in her cheeks. "What did you do?" She gritted her teeth together.

"Oh, nothing too bad. Just cut off the arms and put a couple of holes in them." An evil eyed smile grew across Dirge's face.

Danya threw his large hand off of her shoulder and marched off to Arcatius's room.

"We're not done with you." Dirge's voice was assertive. "Turn back around."

Danya stopped and slowly turned on her heels. She scrunched her lips together and gave Dirge and peeved look.

"You honestly think you can just come in here and screw things up with no punishment?" Dirge held his dagger up in the air and twirled it around as he spoke.

"I don't think I'm the one that got this organization so run down." Danya said with a eerie smile.

Dirge's confidence quickly faded into a boiling anger. He griped the handle on his dagger tightly and slowly strutted over to Danya. "Don't give me that attitude." He pointed his dagger towards Danya. "People like you don't last long around me."

"Such a shame." Danya shrugged her shoulders.

Dirge raised his arm to swing at Danya with his dagger but he was stopped, not by an arm, but by a force. Danya's right palm was surrounded in orange glowing powdery air; and so was Dirge's steel dagger.

Danya's eyes grew wide as she held her glowing hand out in front of her. She swiftly threw her hand out to the side and the dagger followed her movements. As the orange glow faded from her palm, it faded from the dagger as well.

Danya clinched her wrist tightly in pain. The spell she used had drained her magicka completely and caused a tingling needle-like pain in her palm.

The dagger kept it's momentum and flew into water with Danya's robes. It plopped throught the surface and then slowly sank to the bottom of the water and out of sight.

Dirge's face turned red with anger and he clinched his fist by his side. "I outta slaughter you right here." His voice was powerful and aggressive.

When Dirge came just an arms length away from Danya, he threw his fist towards her and socked her right in the nose.

Danya gasped and leaned forward holding her nose. Bright red blood dripped from her nostrils and coated her hands and mouth. She looked back up at Dirge with narrow eyes and he looked back at her with a boastful uncanny smile. Danya stood up straight and pushed the sleeve on her left arm up and then wiped the blood off of her mouth on to her forearm.

Rune and Nuruin looked at each other and then they both started to hustle over to Danya.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Dirge." A haughty voice echoed in the room.

Niruin stopped in his tracks and placed his hand on Rune's chest to force him to a stop.

Galathil strutted into the main area of the Flagon. A childish smile shinned underneath her hood that shaded her face from any light that the sewer got.

"And who are _you_ to stop _me_?" Dirge turned away from Danya to face Galathil.

"You're no match to this girl." Galathil laughed.

"Are you taunting me?" Dirge twisted his head to the side.

"No, I'm not. But I do know that Danya was part of the Legion and still has close ties with them. A large group of people that could kill us in an instant and end any hope you have for this _guild_. However, Danya chooses not to tell the Legion our whereabouts." Galathil stood short next to Dirge as she spoke highly of the girl she barely knew.

"Then we must kill her." Dirge said with a raspy whisper.

"No, then the Legion will come looking for her and they will eventually find the Flagon." Galathil's smile faded as she spoke scornfully to Dirge.

"We can easily dispose of her body." Dirge smiled.

"You don't get it, do you?" Galathil pulled her hood down revealing her gorgeous young face. "She hasn't told anyone because of our acceptance. Even with Mercer's actions towards her and the rude remarks made by the Guild's members towards her, she keeps our location and our name a secret." Her small dark plump lips scrunched together and her wide topaz eyes narrowed.

"I don't need you nagging. I won't kill the worthless elf, but I'll make her wish she was dead." Dirge grabbed Galathil's red hood that sat on her shoulders and jerked her aside.

Galathil stumbled backwards but was quick to catch her balance. She ran her fingers over her scalp to push back her long, chocolate colored, soft hair. "You'll regret this." She laughed at Dirge.

Dirge strided over to Danya, who had regained her strength. Dirge threw another hard punch at Danya but she caught his fist in her palm.

Danya smiled at Dirge and wiped more blood from her nose onto her forearm. With her free arm, she threw a punch back at Dirge that struck him in the jaw and she released his fist. Danya then kneed him in his stomach and pushed his shoulder making him fall to the floor.

Danya wiped the blood running from her nose again. Drops of blood plummeted down to the pool of dark red blood staining the stone beneath her.

Dirge held himself up on his hands and knees and took deep laborious breaths. He swirled his tongue around mouth and spit out a yellowed tooth and bloodly spit.

Danya took a deep sigh and stepped over closer to Dirge. She held out her blood caked hand to help him up. Dirge eyed her cautiously and then gripped onto her hand and pulled himself up.

"Don't go screwing things up, or else this will get worse." Dirge grunted.

Danya smiled and nodded her head slowly. "Fair enough. You don't go screwing around with my robes." Danya started to walk off back to Arcatius but she stopped short in her tracks. "Or me."

"I'm sorry?" Dirge said assertively.

Danya turned around to face the now pissed man. "Don't screw around with me."

Dirge smiled showing his blood stained teeth and he spit more blood out on to the ground. "You think this is a game?" He pushed a strand of blonde hair out of his face, coating it in blood. "You are the one who is making herself at home in our guild."

"And I thank you all for that." Danya said calmly.

"But you have made it clear you want it your way. Remember yelling at Mercer when you first got here? _That_ is what started all of this." Dirge asserted.

"That doesn't give you any right to beat people up." Danya crossed her arms over her chest.

"I act as a guard down here. It gives me what ever right I or Mercer wants it to." Dirge snarled. "And if you haven't noticed, Mercer doesn't like you and wouldn't mind you dead."

"We will be out of here soon and back to not caring what you or Mercer think of us." Danya dropped her arms and strutted out to Arcatius's room.

Dirge followed right behind her fuming with anger. On his way over to her, he picked up a cast iron pot by its wooden handle.

When Dirge got close enough, he swung his arm wide and hit Danya over the back of the head with the bottom of the pot. The pot hit her head with a loud clank and she was only able to let out a short gasp before collapsing. Danya fell to stone floor, out cold, before she could know what happened.

Dirge threw the pot on the ground beside Danya and walked away satisfied.


	16. The Beginning of a Long Night

**Chapter 16**

**The Beginning of a Long Night**

**4E 194 Skyrim, 3rd of Sun's Dusk**

Danya woke up with a throbbing head ache. She struggled to open her weak eyes but any light that she saw made her head throb and she soon gave up and decided it'd be best to fall back asleep. Any small shuffling sounds made her ringing ears hurt and only added to her head ache.

Danya hadn't even noticed that she was under soft warm furs and lying on a straw bed until she heard a sweet soft whisper from Arcatius. Through all the pain, she couldn't make out the words he spoke, but his voice reassured her that she was safe.

Danya was about to fall into a deep slumber but she was jolted awake by the sound of glass bottles hitting the stone floor. The pain was unbareable and Danya was quick to grab the root of her hair on either side of her head and groaned in pain.

Danya could vaguely see a man dressed in a grey long sleeved top and brown cloth trousers tip toe over to her bedside.

"Drink this. It will help you, I promise." Niruin's soft assuring whisper comforted Danya. He wrapped his arm around Danya's back to pull her up to a sitting position and then pressed a cool metal tankard to her lips.

Danya slowly took small swigs of the warm steamy liquid. The drink warmed her chest as it traveled down to her stomach. The steam smelled like relaxing lavender flowers but the liquid tasted like fresh fruity jazbay grapes and sweetened moon sugar.

The warm satisfying drink eased Danya's pain almost immediately and helped her to open her eyes. Her wide weak eyes fluttered open. Niruin stared back at her with a blackened eye and a weak face.

"Are you okay?" Danya asked with a quiet, weak, and raspy voice.

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me." Niruin smiled. "Just a bit of a disagreement."

Danya nodded her head knowing that he wouldn't tell her what really happened. "What is this?" Danya mumbled while lifting the tankard to her lips.

"A remedy I learned in Cyrodiil. Back when I was traveling to Skyrim, I stopped by a small alchemist shack with a small aged man who knew almost everything there was to know about alchemy. He taught me this basic, quick, and easy remedy for pain." Niruin spoke calmly and quietly so that he wouldn't hurt Danya.

"Why did he just teach you and let you stay with him?" Danya said weakly.

"When I was in the woods of Cyrodiil, I came across a small little shack with next to nothing inside of it. I decided it would be a good place to rest at for the evening and through the night. In the middle of my first restful slumber in nights, I was woken by a man with a frail voice. I had startled the man and he was threatening to use a paralysis spell on me, so naturally I tried to assure him I meant no harm. However, it wasn't until I shot an oncoming wolf with a single arrow from a hundred feet away that he decided to calm down and let me stay. The old Altmer's name was Solli. He gave me a place to stay and in return I gave him fresh kill. After a week or two he started teaching me a few alchemy tricks." Niruin smiled as he watched the swirls of steam rise from the tankard.

"What happened to him?" Arcatius joined in the conversation.

"I came back from hunting one evening and couldn't find him any where. So, I went to his herbal garden that he had by a small pond not far from his shack. There I found him lying in a large patch of peonies. He was hardly breathing. I took him back to his shack and tried to mix some potions together for him to drink but he refused to take anything and told me his time had come. So I had to let him die naturally. We talked and talked until he stopped talking back to me. I left a few night shades on him and took his journals. I continued my travels that night." Niruin spoke somberly.

"He knew what he was doing." Danya said as she barely felt any pain.

Niruin nodded. "Yes, small doses of paralysis potions dull the nerves so that pain is not felt as usual. Very effective." He smiled.

The peaceful and quiet talk was interrupted by the old wooden door swinging open. Thrynn walked in and closed the squeaky door behind him. He skin was covered in mud and his hair was dripping wet. The red war paint he had beneath his eyes now ran down his cheeks.

"Sorry I'm back so late." He said pulling a knapsack off his back. "I found you some robes. Oh, and I guess everyone has heard about-" His words ceased as he looked up at Danya from his knapsack. "Are you okay?" He asked rushing over to her bed side.

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me." She smiled taking the robes from his hands.

"What happened?" Thrynn directed his question towards Niruin.

"She beat up Dirge!" Niruin cheered. "Then he um hit her over the back of the the head with a cast iron pot..." Niruin's smile faded.

"Nice, Danya." Thrynn marveled. "And as for yourself, Niruin?"

"I stepped in to help Danya, who was lying on the floor defenseless, and I was told to step back and leave her to die. When I refused, Dirge got a little upset and stepped in. He hit me, I hit him, I have a busted lip and a black eye, and Dirge has a broken nose." Niruin laughed to cover up his regret.

"Oh, damn. And I'm sorry, Danya." Thrynn said with sympathetic eyes.

Danya shook her head. "I'll be fine."

"I'm sure you will, but this is all my fault." Thrynn fell backwards to a sitting down position on the floor.

Niruin looked over at Arcatius weary eyed. "I believe you have something to tell her."

"Yeah," Arcatius spoke with remorse as he ran his hand through his long hair. "I can't move my right leg. At all."

"When the dagger impaled his abdomen, several nerves were cut and the poisoned blade prevented them to piece themselves together." Niruin added.

"Is there nothing that can be done?" Danya asked with panic.

"Well, there is one thing, but it's rather painful and it might not even work." Niruin looked over at Arcatius with wide eyes.

"I've already told you, Niruin. I want it done. Any chance of having my leg back functional is better than how I am now." Arcatius snapped. It was obvious they had talked it over before and had their disagreements.

"If Arcatius wants to do this, then I think that it should be done." Danya said sternly.

"Fine. But you have to get me the ingredients necessary." Niruin pulled a list out of his pocket. "Everything on there." He said shoving the list towards Danya.

"Alright." Danya snatched the list from Niruin's fingers and then jumped up out of bed. Her knees grew weak and she stumbled backwards.

Thrynn jumped up to catch her and keep her balanced. "Maybe you should get these tomorrow, after you've rested." He suggested.

Danya sighed as she sat back down on the bed. "That will have to do."

After quite some time, Danya was able to fall asleep. Her tossing and turning ceased and she was in a deep tranquil slumber.

"You can go to bed, Niruin. I'll stay here and watch them for you." Thrynn spoke quietly careful not to wake Danya and Arcatius.

"Thank you." Niruin said weakly. He slowly got up and made his way to the door. "Don't pull any tricks, okay?" Niruin said standing in the door way.

"You don't have to worry about that." Thrynn laughed.

"Good." Niruin said before closing the door behind him.

**4E 194 Skyrim, 4th of Sun's Dusk**

Danya woke up from her restful sleep. She still felt the smooth paper of the list that Nuruin gave to her in her warm hand. The fur pelts were pulled up close to her and the fine hairs brushed up against her face.

Danya opened her eyelids and looked around the dark musky room. Arcatius lied peacefully in his bed with his furs kicked off of him and his limbs sprawled out.

A deep breath of air coming from an unknown source startled Danya. She could not tell if the sudden noise had come from Arcatius but she feared it had not. She casted a candle light spell in her palm and released the spell in to the air hovering above her.

The dark room was lit with a blue soft glow coming from the candle light. The spell's brightness seemed not to phase Arcatius' sleep, however, the light caused some grumbling from the floor.

Danya cautiously peeked over her bed side with the furs still wrapped snuggly around her. On the stone floor lied Thrynn covered in the green blanket Mercer had hatefully lent him. His eyes were squinted shut as he tried to block out the bright blue light. Thrynn had himself rested up against the night stand by Arcatius' bed and had curled up into a ball.

The candle light spell slowly faded before vanishing in thin air. Thrynn relaxed his eyes and repositioned himself to a more comfortable one. He lied down flat on his stomach with his arms propping his head up above to cold stone.

Danya slipped out of bed and tip toed around Thrynn, careful not to wake him. She lit a candle on the table in the middle of the room with a flames spell. The orange candle's flickering glow gave off little light for her to see but it kept the men asleep.

Danya spread the crumpled note out on the table to read the list. She ran her finger over each neatly written word on the list, whispering each ingredient to herself.

"Ice wraith teeth, wisp wrappings, bone meal, frost salts, butterfly wing, saber cat eye, hawk beak, honey comb, and moon sugar." Her words were hushed.

She stepped away from the table and over in Thrynn's direction. Danya stood over his sleeping body and tapped him on the shoulder with her foot.

Thrynn's heavy eyelids slowly opened to look at the Dunmer standing above him.

Danya held out her hands to help him up. "I'm not going to get these ingredients alone." She insisted. Her eyes were weak looking yet impatient. She still wore Thrynn's oversized shirt from the night before.

Thrynn rubbed his eyes and then looked back up at Danya with wide eyes. "What?" He stammered.

"Just get up." Danya rolled her eyes.

Thrynn slipped his hands into Danya's and helped pull his own body weight up. "Oh, for this leg thing of his." He yawned stretching out his arms.

"Yes, for this_ leg thing of his_." Danya mocked.

Thrynn grabbed Danya's new robes from the floor and handed them to her. "I think these are just like your old ones." He smiled.

Danya took the new robes from his hands. She smiled looking down at the dull blue robes in her hands. "Not exactly," her eyes meet Thrynn's. "but they will most certainly do."

Thrynn ran his fingers through his long brown hair, pushing aside the strands of hair in his face. "They're just like the old ones, I thought." His face showed a puzzled expression.

Danya shook her head. "No, my brother bought me my old robes and enchanted them himself." She sat the robes down on the table with the list and pulled Thrynn's shirt over her head. Danya tossed the shirt over to Thrynn and wrapped the robes around herself.

"What ingredients are we looking for?" Thrynn questioned while folding his shirt.

"Just about every impossible thing you can think of." Danya tied the rope around her waist that held the robes together. The robes didn't fit Danya as well as her old ones had. They were loser fitting and longer, dragging across the floor.

Thrynn frowned eyeing the robes on Danya. "They are a little... Baggy."

Danya nodded. "That they are. It will do though."

Danya and Thrynn walked out of the Guild with out any question as to where they were going or what they were doing from the other guild members. The two had taken the long way to exit the guild, from the Ratways. The exit lead them to the lower level of Riften where a canal ran trough.

The day was cloudy and cold. A chilling breeze calmly blew through the city giving Danya and Thrynn goosebumps.

Thrynn pulled his long black sleeves down and exhaled his warm air into the bone chilling air around them creating a small cloud. He slipped his hands into the pockets of his tan trousers and began to lead the way.

Danya paused and looked over the wooden walkway into the musky flowing water. Her reflection stared back at her. A woman that looked her age with scars from the many battles she had fought. She smiled touching her own soft smooth skin that was now wrinkle free. Her old faded out war paint was repainted a light black color. For once in a long time, she felt proud to be who she was.

"Let's see this list." Thrynn interrupted Danya from her moment.

"Oh, yes." She muttered pulling the list out from a pocket on her robes.

Thrynn took the list from her hands and began to read it over carefully. "Alright." He hummed. "Just follow me. This should be fairly quick."

He lead Danya down the curved walkway until they reached the end where a sign hung that read 'Elgrim's Elixirs.'

"They should have everything we need here. Well, except for the moon sugar." Thrynn spoke with hushed words.

He pushed open the old door letting Danya in the small alchemy shop. Thrynn followed shortly behind her closing the door quickly to not let the warm air escape.

"Hello! How may I help you?" A young girl stood at the counter of the store with a bubbly personality. Her dark brown hair was freshly brushed and a single piece of her hair was braided to the side. She had flawless skin with perfectly rosy pink cheeks. Her narrow golden eyes were accompanied by a high brow line and thin eyebrows. "Oh, Thrynn! What are you stopping by for?"

"Ingredients this time." Thrynn said with a low voice.

"Oh shhh! Master Elgrim and Hafjorg are sleeping." The girl chimed.

"Um... Yeah. Look I have a list of things I need. Lets see, Ice wraith teeth, wisp wrappings, bone meal, frost salts, butterfly wing, saber cat eye, hawk beak, and a honey comb." Thrynn's words were rough and irritated.

"Can I see the list?" The girls face grew worried.

Thrynn licked his thumb and then pulled the list from his pocket. He kept a straight dull face. Thrynn's thumb ran across the bottom of the list smearing the ink of last word. "Here." He muttered holding the list out.

"I will look for these! You can just take a seat over there." The girl pointed over over to a table with two chairs beside a large fire pit.

Thrynn nodded his head and grabbed Danya's shoulder leading her to the tables.

"Ingun!" A raspy old man's voice arose from the back room. "I was asleep!"

"Sorry, Master Elgrim!" The girl exclaimed.

"Ingun? Like Ingun Black-Briar?" Danya whispered to Thrynn.

"Exactly. She's the sane one." Thrynn mumbled.

"Sane?" Danya's voice was shocked.

"She's the only one who isn't plotting to take over Riften or all of Tamriel with their mead." Thrynn rolled his eyes. "Well, there is Sibbi. All he does is beds all the women he gets near."

"She's still not sane." Danya shook her head.

Thrynn cleared his throat. "No, that she's not, but I feel sorry for her. Once you get to know her you understand. Her family forces her into politics and meadery and yet they don't acknowledge her existence. Heck, she sleeps in the basement."

Danya looked at the you g girl who was frantically searching shelves and bookcases for the ingredients. She held the list up and Danya noticed the large black smear of ink across the bottom of the page.

"Why did you smear one of the ingredients." Danya said in a hushed tone and leaned her upper body over the table.

Thrynn scooted up in his chair to rest his elbows on the table. "Moon sugar is illegal. This girl may not be entirely together, but she follows the law like no other." His words were barely audible.

"Alright, Thrynn!" Ingun chimed. "I have most of the ingridents for you! Wisp wrappings, bone meal, frost salts, butterfly wing, saber cat eye, and a honey comb. I don't have the hawk beak or the ice wraith teeth though."

"We can get it ourselves. Thank you." Thrynn threw a coin purse on the counter then took the ingredients handing some over to Danya.

"Are you sure? Those can be hard to come by and wraiths are very dangerous!" Ingun worried.

"Thrynn paused in the doorway and then turned to face Ingun. "Who'd ya sell the teeth to?"

Ingun's eyes widened and she listened to hear snoring from the back room. "Marise."

Thrynn lead Danya down the walkway still holding the ingredients in their arms. Thrynn dropped his ingredients in a bucket lying on the ground.

"Set them in here." He held the bucket out to Danya.

Thrynn pushed the top of a barrel off and proceeded to look inside. He sat the bucket inside the barrel and pulled a long bow and a quiver of iron arrows out from inside.

"Follow me." Thrynn threw the quiver over his shoulder sliding his arm and neck through the loop, and same for the bow; he slipped his head and arm between the string and the handle, wrapping the bow around his body.

Thrynn hopped up the stairs ready to get things done. Danya aimlessly trailed behind Thrynn trying to keep up with his naturally stealthy movements and his fast pace.

The stairs they went up lead to the town's back gate, the keep, and the orphanage. Thrynn walked along the path and over a bridge into the market place.

Merchants were shouting over one another in their stalls desperately trying to get customers their way.

A burly woman stood strongly in her armor stall surrounded by an assortment of boots and gauntlets and helmets.

A deep green Argonian stood in his own jewelry stall across from the armor stall. Display cases lined his stall with eye-catching necklaces and rings inside.

A Dunmer stood at the last stall boasting about his goods from Morrowind.

A thin tanned woman sat beside an empty stall. She was wrapped up in a tattered bear pelt desperately trying to keep herself warm. The beggar shivered in the cold occasionally letting out a few pitiful coughs.

Thrynn walked past this woman and dropped a small satchel by her side. She opened the satchel weary of what it might contain but her weariness soon turned to complete and utter joy. A large smile covered her face as she pulled out a fresh apple and gold.

"Thank you! Divines bless your kind heart!" The woman cheered to Thrynn.

"What was that about?" Danya questioned as she caught up to Thrynn.

He stopped short behind a Bosmer woman who was talking to a Dunmer woman beside a large carriage piled with fresh meat. "I didn't get out of being a bandit and immediately make it to the guild." He whispered. "I was a beggar like her for a short time. Not near as bad as her, but I was in poor shape."

"I had no idea. How long?" Danya asked keeping a low tone.

"Not too long. Almost two years." Thrynn shrugged. "However, I wasn't living like her either. I was running around robbing people like crazy, making deals with people, and of course for a fee training people." Thrynn laughed.

The Bosmer in front of Thrynn walked away from the Dunmer leaving Thrynn to speak with her.

"Marise," Thrynn spoke with an assertive tone.

"How may I help you?" The Dunmer was completely oblivious to who Thrynn was or any of his schemes.

"I hear that you have some ice wraith teeth." Thrynn kept a calm attitude.

"That I do! To keep this meat fresh." Marise cheered.

"I need some." Thrynn dangled a coin purse from his fingers.

"I use it for my meat, without it, I'll be out of business." Fear grew across Marise's face. Her red eyes grew wide and her lips pouted. This fear filled expression soon turned into one of aggression. Her eyes narrowed, her lips grew smaller, and her ashy cheeks turned a rosy red. "And don't you even try stealing them off of me." She scoffed as she remembered the city was filled with thieves.

Thrynn smirked slipping the coin purse back into his pocket. "I won't." He wrapped his arm around Danya's shoulder and pulled her away from Marise. Thrynn walked her down the stairs beside the Bee and Barb without speaking a word.

"Are you just going to forget about the wraith teeth?" Danya fussed.

"Just follow me and you shall see." Thrynn hummed to Danya.

Danya rolled her eyes and followed him down the wooden path on the canal.

Thrynn stepped on to a small plank bridge that lead to a door on the other side of the canal. He dropped to his knees and pulled out a lock pick and started picking at the lock.

Danya looked next to the door. On the stone floor was a small carving of a circle and inside the circle was a box with lines over it. She ran her finger tips over the smooth, damp stone and down over the carving.

"What's this?" She asked Thrynn.

"A shadow mark. Tells a thief if the home is worth looting." Thrynn mumbled while twisting the lock pick around until it clicked and the door was unlocked. He pushed the door open and motioned Danya inside.

"Wait. Is this Marise's house?" Danya's voice echoed off the empty home's walls.

"Sure is." Thrynn said opening a knapsack that lied on a table. "Mind looking?" He dropped the knapsack back on the table where he found it.

Danya went snooping around the room looking in tables and barrels for any ice wraith teeth she could find.

Thrynn went to the room separated by a large stone wall in search of any teeth. Danya meet him in the small room after searching through the larger room.

The small room had a bed pushed against the wall and a nightstand beside it. Sever barrels had been shoved into corners without care or organization.

Thrynn lied on the ground looking under the bed for any signs of the ice wraith teeth. He pushed himself up off the floor with his wide arms.

"Nothing." He shook his head looking into Danya's eyes with anger and pity filling in his own.

Danya looked down at the apothecary's satchel that lied wedged between a sack and a barrel. She bent down pulling the satchel from its location and flipped it open. Inside were three shinning, crystal ice wraith teeth. She pulled out the cool teeth holding them in her palm.

"Nothing, hmm?" Danya smirked. She dropped the satchel to the ground and laughed as she watched the baffled and sheepish expression grow across Thrynn's face.

"I- I meant under the bed. There's uh nothing under the bed." Thrynn stammered while scratching the back of his head.

Danya shook her head and started to make her way out of the home. Thrynn followed behind her like a puppy would its mother.

Danya dropped the teeth into the bucket Thrynn had put in the barrel out by the canal. She turned around looking at Thrynn who stood behind her.

"We still have two more ingredients to get." She leaned on the barrel behind her as she spoke her assertive but soft words.

"I know." Thrynn smirked. He tugged at the fabric on her shoulder and she started walking. He slid his hands on to her waist and guided her direction. "We are gonna have to leave town to get these final ingredients." He gave her a small, playful shove pushing her out of his grip and towards the stairs.

Danya spun around on her heels shooting him a glare that burned into his eyes and turned his playful grin into a serious straight face. She turned back around with a smirk and continued up the stairs with a giggle.

A guard closed the heavy wood gate that secured Riften behind Danya and Thrynn.

Thrynn lead the way down the wide stone road while pulling out a handful of gold. A soft fog lied gently on the stone path ahead of them. The cool breeze blew through the trees rustling the leaves.

Thrynn ceased his walking in front of a small caravan of Khajits. The cats had set up a large tent and three other smaller tents surrounding a warm fire. The Khajits' fur must of not been enough warmth for them. They all wore heavy furs around them and wrapping themselves in warm blankets.

Three of the Khajits sat on logs by the fire talking amongst themselves while one lone female Khajit sat in the large tent safe from the spine chilling wind.

"Thrynn," the dark furred Khajit in the tent spoke. "It's good to see you. Have you come for more Skooma?" Her round, light blue eyes flickered with joy.

"Not today, Ahkari. Though I could use a refill." Thrynn chuckled looking at Danya. "I'm hoping you have some moon sugar."

"Of course Ahkari has moon sugar!" The Khajit rolled her words with enthusiasm. She got up and pushed the top of a barrel reaching inside with an empty bowl in her hands. When she pulled the bowl up, it was filled with a orangey white powder. She covered the bowl with a lid and tied it down with a rope to keep it secure. "Here you are, Thrynn." Ahkari smiled revealing her sharp and polished ivory teeth.

"Thank you." Thrynn nodded as he slipped the bowl into his pocket and handed over a bag of gold.

He trotted off from the scene leaving Danya behind, but she was quick to catch up with him though.

"I know where a couple of hawks nests are nearby. From the looks of it, it's about to rain. The birds with probably be in or near their nests." Thrynn slowed down to a walk once he got under the trees.

Danya followed Thrynn as the silence over came them. Goose bumps pecked their skin and the icy wind blew their hair into their faces.

Danya pulled a tattered hair tie from her wrist and pulled her hair into a loose pony tail.

"You know, I got stabbed like Arcatius." Thrynn spoke softly ending the consuming silence.

"You did?" Danya said in a fake tone.

Thrynn came to a sudden stop and glared back at Danya. "Don't play stupid. You saw the scars." He spoke sternly.

Danya stayed silent looking at Thrynn with a worry filled expression.

Thrynn turned back around and continued walking deeper into the forest. "The leader of our bandit clan, Garthek, gave me that scar right before I put my sword through his chest."

"How did you not bleed out?" Danya pondered the thought before asking.

"My friends carried me to a town nearby where a mage took care of me from there. What a cranky old lady she was. My wound wasnt as bad as Arcatius' though. His dagger had poison." Thrynn spoke while pulling half of his hair back with a hair tie.

"But your scar is..." Danya's soft words trailed off, curious but weary of the answer she would receive.

"Worse? Yeah." Thrynn answered for Danya. "He drug his dagger through my abdomen. Arcatius was poisoned. That will do more damage than anything."

"Do you know what kind of poison it was?" Danya's voice cracked.

"Lingering something. Niruin would know." Thrynn shrugged as he slipped the bow off of his back and hooked an arrow into place.

After shuffling through the leaves for another thirty minutes surrounded in their own solitude of silence, Danya's curiosity broke the empty air.

"How long did it take you to heal?" Danya spoke softly with care.

Thrynn slowly came to a stop and lowered his bow down. The pain and suffering he experienced flooded his mind and a sorrowful expression covered his usually strong face.

"Thrynn?" Danya muttered snapping him back into reality.

"Um, half a year." Thrynn's words hardly escaped his barely parted lips.

The horrors still clouded his mind. Pain wasn't his main horror though. It was the treatments and the hallucinations and nightmares it gave him.

Thrynn was panic stricken and a cold sweat began to roll down his forehead. He swiftly turned around and began to search for a hawk again.

"Are you okay?" Danya brought comfort to Thrynn but his anxiety still overwhelmed him greatly.

"Yeah, it's just... Memories." Thrynn's voice was shaky.

Danya saw the fear in his wide, weak eyes and chose to stay quiet.

Within a few minutes, rain began to fall from the dark grey clouds. The soft droplets of water tapped on the trees' yellow and orange leaves. Drops ran down Danya's and Thrynn's faces, dampened their hair, and blurred their vision.

It wasn't much longer before the sound of heavy wings brushing against the dampened leaves of the trees disturbed the soft trickling pitter patter of the rain. A large hawk rested on the white branch of a tree. The bird's brown wings were dripping soft crystals of water but the soft feathers on its chest remained dry. Beside the beautiful bird was a large nest made up of twigs, pines, and leaves. The ragged nest housed several chirping babies all with the potential to be as big and beautiful as their mother who stood proudly over them. As the mother looked over the babies they grew quiet.

Thrynn slowly inhaled and pulled his bow back aiming at the mother bird. He swiftly released the arrow that pierced the hawk's neck.

The mother bird fell from the tree down to the mud covered forest floor beneath the limb. As her limp body lied on the ground the cries from the small babies arose again.

Thrynn shuffled over the hawk and snatched her body from the ground. Danya watched him in shock. She stood still looking at the lifeless bird he held in his hands. Her eyes flickered from the mother to the babies and back to the mother over and over.

Thrynn brushed several strands of dripping wet hair from his face. "Let's get back before it storms." He grabbed Danya's shoulder and shook her back into reality.

Danya looked at the nest where the babies cried. Their mother's life was just taken in a split second. Just like Danya's mother and father.

"Danya." Thrynn's stern voice startled Danya.

Loud clashes and rumbles of thunder shook the earth beneath Danya's feet. With a deep breath, she shook her head and trotted along behind Thrynn.

Thrynn and Danya walked into the cold, stone room with water dripping from their clothes and hair. Arcatius slept in his bed, yet the room was lit brightly.

A familiar voice greeted them from the other side of the room. "Aye, looks like someone forgot their hood." Brynjolf sat back in a chair with his legs kicked up on the table looking at the two soaking wet people in front of him.

"Oh, you've decided to show up." Thrynn said irritated.

"I had a contract, lad. And you lass," Brynjolf dropped his legs and rested his elbows on the table in front of him. He narrowed his eyes on Danya. "I hear you got yourself into a fight."

"I'm sure you did." Danya mumbled.

"How long have you been here?" Thrynn said harshly as he sat down the bucket of ingredients by the closed door.

"Long enough to hear about everything." Brynjolf shrugged his shoulders. He reached down and pulled open the bottom drawer of a cabinet. "Take these." Brynjolf sighed as he tossed clean, dry clothes to Thrynn and Danya. "And you can keep these Danya. You need out of those terribly oversized robes."

"I'd still have my old ones if weren't for a certain group of people." Danya scoffed back to Brynjolf.

The wooden door swung open widely. Niruin's hand rested on the door knob and his other on his hip.

"Ah, look who finally came back." Niruin smirked as he closed the door behind him. "We're you able to get everything?"

"It's all by the door." Thrynn sighed as he fell backwards into a chair.

"What kind of healing combination uses an illegal ingredient like moon sugar?" Danya questioned.

"Moon sugar isn't a part of this." Niruin laughed. "I will keep that for myself."

Danya rolled her eyes as she unfolded her new clothes.

"Well, I will need my privacy to do this." Niruin said as he sat the bucket on the nightstand beside Arcatius' bed.

"Good luck, lad." Brynjolf spoke with little hope as he walked out the door.

Thrynn followed behind him, holding his thumb up before rounding the corner.

Danya turned to look at Niruin. Her wide, dark scarlet eyes narrowed and her plump lips thinned. "Don't you hurt him and I swear to Azura if he wakes up with a leg and abdomen that's worse than before you will regret it." Danya spoke with a stern, aggressive voice and stressed most of her words.

Niruin's blank stare turned into a more serious one as he turned around to face Danya. He placed his hands behind him on the nightstand and leaned against it. "He will be in pain. Nothing like before, though." He sighed and ran his hand through his long, amber brown hair. "I've never done this by myself, but when I did it with help it went well. Very well." A small reassuring grin grew across Niruin's lips.

Danya's face softened to a subtle smile. "Good. Now you should get started." She walked out the door closing it slowly behind her. "Oh, and good luck." Danya mumbled right before the wooden door close shut.


	17. There are Good Things Coming

**Chapter 17**

**There are Good Things Coming**

**4E 194 Skyrim, 5th of Sun's Dusk**

Danya sat in the Flagon with a bottle of ale in her hand. She wore her new clothes, a fitted black v-neck tee, tight beige pants, and lace up brown boots that fit over her pants. Her new clothes were clean and had hardly been worn before by the looks of it. Danya's hair had dried completely by now and her war paint had been washed off from the rain.

At the table with Danya sat Brynjolf, Thrynn, and Cynric. Brynjolf sat across from Danya with heavy eyelids. He was the only person in the room with his guild armor still on. Thrynn's hair had dried as well and he had changed into a set of his own clothes, a long sleeved grey shirt and long black pants. Cynric had fallen asleep on the table with a tankard in one hand.

The group was pretty quiet and only occasionally stirred up a conversation. For the most part, it was small talk.

"What time do you suppose it is?" Thrynn yawned.

"Eh, well after midnight." Brynjolf mumbled.

"You guys can go to bed." Danya spoke up with hushed words. She kept her gaze down at the table.

"Well, one of us already has, lass." Brynjolf pointed his bottle of mead in Cynric's direction.

Danya nodded letting the room fill with silence again.

The sound of a creaky wooden door opening echoed down the halls into the Flagon. Everyone awake at the table perked up looking to see if it was Niruin.

The soft pitter patter of bare feet on stone traveled towards the Flagon and suspension rose. From around the corner appeared Niruin.

Danya jumped to her feet with wide eyes and anticipation. Niruin shook his head and motioned for her to sit down. He slowly walked over to the group pulling up a chair to sit down.

"It's good to see everyone stayed awake." Niruin hit Cynric over the back of the head.

Cynric flung up with sleepy, red eyes. "0h, Niruin." He mumbled. "Here." Cynric passed over his half drunk tankard of mead to Niruin with a drunken smile.

Niruin looked at Cynric with a blank expression. His eyelids were heavy and he had black bags under his eyes. He ran his hand through his messy hair before shoving the tankard away.

"Lad, how's about we get you to bed?" Brynjolf cheered. He got up and pulled Cynric to his feet.

"It's not bedtime though." Cynric slurred.

"No, lad, but it is for you." Brynjolf draped Cynric's arm over his shoulders and drug him to his bed.

Danya sat with wide eyes looking at Niruin while anxiously tapping on the table. Thrynn placed his hand on her's to stop the constant tapping.

"Well, you want to know?" Niruin's voice was weak from exhaustion.

"Yes. I would like to know how Arcatius is doing." Danya spoke sternly.

"It went well. He should be fine." Niruin's dull face lit up with a small smile and a flicker of relief in his voice.

"_Should_?" Danya's eyes narrowed and her body tensed up. Anger built up inside her.

"Danya, we won't know any sure results until he tries to walk." Niruin's voice grew soft.

Thrynn rested his hand on Danya's shoulder. "You're stressed and exhausted. Everything's fine. You're over analyzing things. It's okay." He whispered softly.

Danya nodded her head. "Okay. When can he walk?"

"Maybe tomorrow night. Or tonight. I'm not entirely sure what day it is... or the time. So lets just say the next time it gets dark." Niruin sighed.

Danya nodded her head and began to impatiently tap her feet.

"If you want you can see him in a bit. He will probably be asleep though." Niruin shrugged his shoulders.

"Yes. That'll do." Danya calmed down but spoke sharply.

"So what did you do while I was gone? Party?" Niruin smiled.

Thrynn chuckled. "Not hardly. Got changed and have been here for the most part. Cynric got drunk, as you could tell."

"No. I couldn't tell. Wow. I would not of known if it weren't for you telling me. Gee, thanks." Niruin said sarcastically.

"Oh, you didn't notice? Well, it wasn't too bad. No. Not at all. He _only_ had 7 tankards and 4 bottles." Thrynn said wide eyed.

"Only that? Pathetic." Niruin's sarcasm turned into a pitiful chuckle. "Oh, I need moon sugar." He whined.

"If you don't eat that, I will and you will know it too. I busted my ass to get that for you. A guard stopped us on our way back asking if we had seen any illegal activity going on. No doubt in my mind he knew I had it on me." Thrynn spoke sternly but with good humor.

Niruin smiled looking up at Thrynn then Danya. "Oh yes, I will know if you use my moon sugar. The whole guild will know."

Danya kicked Niruin's shin as he giggled. "We don't speak of that." She said in a hushed voice looking at Dirge who sat asleep in a chair by the entrance.

"Yes ma'am!" Niruin said trying to hold back his smile.

"Well, it's been half an hour or so, want to go check in on Arcatius?" Niruin yawned.

"Yes!" Danya jumped up from her chair and made her way to the hall with speed.

She quickly navigated her way through the dark hall leading to the bedroom. Her fast pace was thrown to a halt when she turned the corner.

A man stood hidden in the shadow. His hand was placed on Danya's chest to keep her from moving any further.

"We need to speak." The figure came out in front of Danya.

"Mercer?" Danya lit a candle light spell into the air. The blue glow lit the man's face revealing Danya's assumptions to be correct.

"Who else would it be?" Mercer smirked. "We all know about your little _incident_ with Thrynn, but you took it too far when you got into it with Dirge."

Mercer was short but he was still taller than Danya. This was the first time Danya had seen him without his guild armor. Instead, he wore a black tee and black pants. His hair was greasy and his face had a thin layer of dirt caked on.

"I wouldn't of done anything if it weren't for him pulling a dagger out." Danya spoke with narrow eyes and an aggressive voice.

"Where'd ya learn it?" Mercer narrowed his eyes into a loathing expression.

"Learn what?" Danya stammered.

"How to fight. You don't just pull that out of no where." Mercer raised his voice.

"I was in the Legion." Danya answered quickly but soon regretted answering so fast.

Mercer gripped her smooth face. "_You_? In the Legion?" He laughed. "That would explain the scars, but you're just a mage."

"_Just_ a mage?" Danya spat. She grabbed his rough hand, pulling his calloused fingertips from her face.

"Oh I'm sorry." Mercer said with sarcasm. "Did you study at the college of-"

"No." Danya quickly cut him off. "No, I didn't." She tried to walk around Mercer but he threw his arm out in front of her to block her path.

"There's a story to this." Mercer leaned in close to Danya and whispered.

"Not one you'll ever hear." She muttered.

"I think I will." Mercer moved his free hand on to Danya's shoulder beside her neck.

"No, you won't." Danya said as she felt Mercer's rough thumb wrap around her neck.

"I said, I think I will." Mercer made it obvious he wasn't giving up.

"We weren't allowed in." Danya gazed off to the side doing anything to not make eye contact with Mercer.

"Who's _we_? You and that kid?" He snapped.

"He's not a kid. And no... Me and my brother." Danya swallowed hard.

"Oh you have a brother?"

"Not anymore."

"Is that so?" Mercer smirked eerily.

"Yes." Danya whispered.

"And _why_ couldn't you get in?"

"We were too _young_." Danya curled her lip at the thought of the college.

"Too young? Or to inexperienced?" Mercer raised his eyebrows.

Mercer made a good point. Maybe Danya wasn't as good of a Mage as she thought she was. Thoughts paced in her head but she had to shake it off and not let him get to her.

Danya narrowed her eyes and looked into Mercer's eyes. "Too _young_. I was a damn good mage even at a young age."

Danya grabbed both of Mercer's wrists and warmed her hands with a flame spell. Mercer yelped and jumped back releasing Danya and the wall.

"You just like to stir trouble don't you?" Mercer gritted his teeth while lookin at his red wrists.

"Maybe you shouldn't of pinned me against a wall." Danya said harshly.

"If you hadn't of tried walking away I wouldn't of had to."

Mercer threw his hands out to catch Danya's wrists. She struggled to break loose from his grasp but nothing seemed to work.

The faint sound of footsteps quickly stopped Danya and Mercer's bickering.

Niruin and Thrynn slowly came around the corner talking to each other. Their talking stopped when they saw Danya and Mercer standing in front of them. They both stood with their hands behind their back and sheepish faces.

The bright candle light spell faded away leaving the hallway dark. Niruin lifted his hand up and released a new candle light spell into the air.

"Umm... Is everything alright?" Niruin spoke cautiously.

"Oh yes!" Mercer cheer.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Danya added with enthusiasm.

"Alright then." Thrynn stepped forward and grabbed Danya's shoulder pulling her away with Niruin leading the way.

Danya and Mercer both turned around to shoot each other a glare once everyone had moved on.

Niruin held his hand on the door knob and looked back at Danya with a puzzled expression. She looked back at him and smiled childishly.

Niruin opened the wooden door to Arcatius' room and dropped his hands.

"Arcatius!" He shouted.

Arcatius was standing in the middle of the room with a piece of bitten into bread in one hand and mead in the other. He slowly finished chewing the bread in his mouth and swallowed it. "I'm should just... Yeah." He stuttered while pointing to his bed with his bottle of mead.

"Yes!" Niruin fumed. His arm aggressively shot out and pointed towards the bed I'm the corner.

Arcatius tip toed over to his bed quickly. His leg had to be feeling well, but he still had a little limp.

Thrynn and Danya crowded into the room around Niruin. Danya collapsed face first on to the bed and Thrynn sat down at the end of her bed with his back rested against the wall.

"Hey, what was that commotion going on?" Arcatius asked Danya with a mouth full of bread.

"Yes, Danya." Niruin shut the door behind him and walked over to the beds pulling a chair with him. "What _was_ that commotion?"

Danya turned onto her side. "Umm... What _commotion_?" She spoke quietly.

"You were standing in the hall with Mercer. Something's up." Thrynn joined in the conversation.

"Just talking." Danya shrugged.

"I haven't been around this place to hear much, but I know good and well that that you two are not the two to talk. Fight? Yeah. Talk? No." Arcatius remarked.

"Aren't you supposed to stay off your leg?" Danya sat up looking at Arcatius.

"She brings up a point." Niruin said pointing his finger at Arcatius.

"She's getting off topic." Arcatius argued.

"You also have a good point. Danya, what was going on?" Niruin pointed his finger at Danya.

"He stopped me and talked to me. That's all." She shrugged.

"Talked to you about what?" Thrynn inquired.

"Umm, how I have stirred things up. That's all." Danya sat looking at the three unamused men around her. "Okay so he might know that I was part of the legion."

"Well, if he didn't hate you before he defiantly does now!" Niruin fussed.

"The boy is confused." Thrynn said looking at Arcatius who did look extremely puzzled.

Niruin rolled his eyes and began to speak slowly. "This is the thieves guild."

"I know that much, but the legion isn't going stop you. I mean you're already not doing so well." Arcatius shrugged.

"Why don't I explain this to you in the morning when I'm well rested." Niruin yawned and walked out of the room without saying another word.

Thrynn got up and blew a few candles out leaving only the candle on the nightstand lit. The smell of candle smoke filled the musky thick air in the room.

Within just a few minutes, Thrynn was out asleep in a chair on the other side of the room from Danya and Arcatius.

Arcatius flipped over to lie on his stomach and propped himself up with his elbows. "Danya." He whispered.

"What?" She groaned back.

Arcatius waved his fingers through the candle's flickering flame. "You and Mercer got into a bit of a fight didn't you?"

Danya peered up from her pillow. "Yes." She narrowed her weak eyes. "And you got yourself into trouble by getting out of bed, didn't you?"

Arcatius froze with his finger in the flame. He gasped as the flame sizzled his flesh. "Yeah. Hah yeah, I did."

"Hah? Do you think it's funny? What if you have to rest longer?" Danya snapped.

"Do you want to talk about the trouble you've gotten in while we were here?" Arcatius smirked.

Danya narrowed her eyes and the fell back down on her pillow. "No." She mumbled.

"Hey, got any thing for burns?" Arcatius asked looking at his pink sink.

"Use a frost spell in your palm and just keep your finger there until it gets too cold." Danya muttered.

"Okay!" Arcatius hummed. The dark candle lit room soon turned a bright frosty blue that was accompanied by a cool, large gust of wind. The stone walls were coated in a fine ice crystal sheet that gave off a small illumination.

"So, I'm going to assume that's not what you do." Arcatius stuttered with shame.

"How about you stick with using daggers and not magic?" Danya mumbled back to him.

**4E 194 Skyrim, 5th of Sun's Dusk**

Danya woke up with ease early that morning. Her restlessness and tossing and turning kept her awake most of the night. She slowly shifted up into a sitting position in her bed.

The warm furs on the hides bristled against her clothing and fell down to her lap as she rose up.

The room was it's old usual self. Cool damp, musky, and had that certain foul odor. However Danya noticed something a bit different this morning.

The Dunmer yawned and slowly rose her hands to her eyes, wiping away tears from her yawn. Suddenly it hit her. She was alone in the room with Arcatius. There had always been someone sleeping in a chair or on the floor with them.

Danya slowly slipped the furs off of her and let her feet hit the floor. Her bare skin touched the cold stone and she leaned down to slip her boots on.

"Where in Oblivion did Thrynn go?" She questioned to herself.

With her lack of sleep and short time in bed she knew she had to be up early.

"Maybe a contract he had to take care of." Danya answered her own question while tying the last lace of her boot.

She stood up looking at Arcatius lying on his stomach. His hair had grown out a lot since he had run to Danya's house late that one night, and he was growing out a short beard by now.

Danya didn't usually talk strangers much less go adventuring with them to kill an old enemy, but something felt different about Arcatius. Almost like she had a connection with him.

Danya ignored the fact that no one was in the room to watch over the crippled Arcatius (as if he needed to be watched) and trotted out of the room.

She took the secret exit of the guild to get out with out dealing with Dirge or anyone she didn't want to see.

Danya creaked opened the door leading to the Cistern and peaked around to see if anyone was up that she would need to avoid. Everyone in the Cistern was sound asleep snuggled into their beds.

Danya slowly tip toed in and across the room passing beds along the way.

Brynjolf lied asleep in his bed with the furs kicked halfway off and an open book in his lap. Niruin lied in his bed with the furs up to his chin as he snored peacefully. Cynric lied in a bed with his face buried in a pillow. It was Danya's guess that he was thrown onto the bed and didn't choose the 'face down' position himself.

She reached the wood ladder that exited the cistern and proceeded to climb up. She pushed the several rotting wood planks that separated the gave from the cistern out of the way for her to climb up. Danya stood up in the grave that hid the guild from Riften and kicked the planks back over the small hole.

Her hand reached out and grabbed the cold rusty chain that hung on the wall. With a gentle tug at the chain, the concrete slab slowly opened to Riften.

Danya slipped out just before the slab was fully open and strutted into Riften.

The sun's rising rays were shinning through the thin layer of fog that hovered over the ground. Blue, purple and orange vibrant rays shined in the sky and highlighted the sunrise.

The town was quiet and only a few guards shuffled around. Yawns silently rolled from the mouths of sleepy men and some guards staggered along the walk way.

"What is it, elf?" A stern mumbled voice spoke up from behind Danya.

Danya turned around glaring at the guard leaning against the wall. She curled her lip in disgust at the guard and whipped back around.

"Well? There's go to be a reason you're out early." The guard spoke harshly.

"I'm going to the Bee and Barb. That's all." Danya spoke softly to keep her anger held in with her back still towards the guard.

"It's a little early for drinks isn't it?" The man laughed.

"Yes." Danya gritted through her teeth. She took off from the scene with a fast pace and eager to make it to the inn.

She arrived at the main entrance to the Barb and pushed the door open with a single hand and a large sum of force.

Danya stood in the doorway letting the door slowly slide behind her. Her messy pony tail was falling down from a terrible case of bed head. Her deep red eyes looked weak and carried dark heavy bags beneath them.

Danya's eyes caught a glimpse of a man sitting at a table in the far right of the room. The man ran his hands through his short dark brown hair and yawned loudly.

Danya slowly made her way over to the sleep deprived man and sat down in front of him.

"Danya?" The man's familiar voice cracked.

"Hey, Luven." Danya smiled. "I didn't expect you to be up this early, actually."

Luven shook his head. "I didn't either, but here I am." His light sapphire eyes showed exhaustion. He picked up the warm tankard in front of him with his scarred hands. As the tankard rose to his lips, a fruity fragrance stirred around in the air.

Luven wore a maroon long sleeved top with his sleeves pushed up and tan lose fitting pants. A burn scar peaked out from the sleeve on his left arm. The skin looked mangled and tender.

"What is that you're drinking?" Danya drew her attention off the large scar.

"Hmm? Oh, not entirely sure. It's fruity!" Luven hummed.

Dana nodded her head and propped her elbows on the table. Thoughts circled through her head. She had come to the inn for one reason. To ask Luven for help. But she was beginning to question if she could trust him.

"So, I take it you came in here for me?" Luven interrupted Danya's thoughts.

"Oh, um yes. A question actually." Her voice was quiet and uneasy.

"Alright, ask away." Luven spoke firmly.

"Do you know anything about where the Stormcloak's will be camping at? And a uh specific group of Stormcloaks." Danya stumbled with her words.

"What _specific_ group are you looking for?" Luven leaned into the table and spoke softer. His wide eyes narrowed and starred into Danya's deep red eyes.

"Ciara the Nimble's camp, I just-"

"Ciara?" Luven sharply interrupted her and laughed. "Are you mad?"

Danya shrugged her shoulders. "Kinda."

"Look meeting with her would be a death wish." Luven's words were spoken in a soft tone.

"I know that. Trust me. I just need to know where she will be and when." Danya spoke slower.

"Well to answer your question, yes. The legion has her tracked down and are following her every move. She's got close ties with Ulfric, if we can eliminate her we can get closer to him."

"Elimination is my goal." Danya mumbled.

"Your _goal_? You're kidding? You've got to be." Luven mocked.

"I have my reasons. Now will I be able to find out as to where she will be and when?" Danya said with more aggression.

"Reasons eh? Care to share?" Luven softened his tone.

"Not here."

"Alright." Luven stood up from the table and pushed his chair back in slowly making sure he kept eye contact with Danya. "Right this way." Luven lead Danya outside the inn.

Outside the sun had risen and the fog had cleared. It was a humid day but still a little chilly.

Luven quickly walked down the paths to the back gate to Riften. He opened the large wooden gate door and quickly closed it behind Danya.

"Where are we going?" Danya scoffed.

"Somewhere where you can tell me about these reasons of yours." Luven said walking on to a dirt path.

Danya sighed following him up.

She looked at the muscular man in front of her. His shoulders were broad and covered in muscle and the veins on his arms were raised. The large burn scar covered the back of his left elbow along with several smaller scars over his arms and neck.

Luven veered off the dirt path and over to some large rocks. He sat down on a large rock leaving her just enough room to sit on the other side.

"So, your reasons?" Luven spoke after Danya had gotten settled.

"Well do you want the short story or the long one?" Danya questioned.

"Short." Luven spoke without hesitation.

"She killed my parents in front of me and killed my brother and his girlfriend and about killed me."

"Okay, long story." Luven had a sympathetic look on his face.

"When I was a little girl my family moved from Morrowind to Skyrim to goto the College of Winterhold. We traveled at night because we knew we were in Stormcloak territory and we happened to pass a camp. Ciara found my parents while my brother and I hid. It was then she killed them with out any question." Somber expressions covered her grey face. "After years my brother built a house for us in Eastmarch. One day he didn't come home from hunting so I went out looking for him. I found him and his girlfriend dead along with some Stormcloaks. The soldiers had letters on them that had ordered them to kill them."

Luven sat in silence for a while before speaking. "Why were they a target?"

"His girlfriend spoke out against the rebellion and the wrong group of people overheard." Danya shrugged.

"What about you? You said she almost killed you." Luven spoke softly.

Danya shared her story about going into battle with Ciara. Luven asked for every detail which made Danya a but uncomfortable. She had not even given that much detail to Arcatius.

Luven cleared his throat. "Look Danya, I know this isn't your favorite topic,"

"One of my least favorites." Danya interrupted.

"As I was saying," Luven said a bit harshly. "Everything you're telling me is helping me figure out _how_ she is and how we can get her."

"So you're in?" Danya said a bit shocked.

"Yeah, I'll help ya." Luven nodded with a small smirk.


End file.
